Congress turncoat Ramniwas Rawat sworn-in as Minister in M.P. government

Ramniwas Rawat, a six-term MLA who dumped the Congress to join the BJP during the Lok Sabha election, was sworn-in as a Minister in the Madhya Pradesh government as Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expanded his Cabinet on Monday.

Mr. Rawat was sworn-in as a Cabinet Minister and the oath of office and secrecy was administered by Government Mangubhai Patel at a ceremony in the Raj Bhawan. The expansion only saw one Minister taking oath.

However, the swearing-in ceremony had to be redone within 15 minutes after Mr. Rawat misread his oath saying “Rajya Mantri” (Minister of State) instead of “Rajya ke Mantri” (State’s Minister), leading to a confusion whether he will be an MoS or a Cabinet Minister.

The error came to notice after officials informed the Chief Minister and the Governor, leading to a second ceremony at another venue in the Raj Bhawan. The first oath was not taken on record.

A prominent OBC leader from the Gwalior-Chambal region, Mr. Rawat joined the BJP on April 30. He represents the Vijaypur Assembly constituency in Sheopur district and had been a Minister in the Digvijaya Singh-led Congress government.

Mr. Rawat’s switch is said to have benefitted the BJP in the Chambal region, especially in the Morena Lok Sabha constituency where the party faced a tough challenge from the Congress. The BJP managed to win it by 52,000 votes. Sheopur district is a part of Morena constituency.

Mr. Rawat resigned from his legislative membership only after taking oath as a Minister and is now expected to contest the byelection on a BJP ticket.

Apart from Mr. Rawat, two more MLAs had moved to the BJP in the midst of the Lok Sabha polls — Nirmala Sapre and Kamlesh Pratap Shah of Bina and Amarwara constituencies, respectively. While Mr. Shah had given up his legislative membership soon after joining the ruling party and is now contesting the bypoll on July 10 on a BJP ticket, Ms. Sapre is yet to resign as an MLA.

Last week, a delegation of Congress MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar met the Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar and requested him to suspend the memberships of Mr. Rawat and Ms. Sapre.

With the new induction, the strength of the Madhya Pradesh Cabinet reached 32, including the Chief Minister and his two deputies. The maximum strength is 35.

Earlier in December, 28 Ministers, including Cabinet ranks and MoS, had been sworn-in just days after Mr. Yadav and his two deputies took oath.