Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expanded his Cabinet on Monday, including a recent Congress turncoat and prominent OBC leader from Chambal, Ram Niwas Rawat.

The switch of Rawat, a six-time MLA from Vijaypur in Sheopur, from the Congress to the BJP on April 30 was a significant political gain for the BJP.

Incidentally, due to a mix-up, Rawat was initially sworn in as a Minister of State (MoS). Within 15 minutes, he took oath again as a Cabinet minister.

With Rawat’s entry, the Yadav ministry has acquired yet another OBC face. Of the ministers, 11 are OBCs, followed by 11 upper castes, six belonging to SCs, and four STs.

Welcoming Rawat into his ministry, CM Yadav talked of his long public life, especially as a representative of Sheopur. “As a minister, his experience will benefit the entire Cabinet and all residents of the state.”

The trigger for Rawat’s exit from the Congress was the party declaring Satyapal Singh Sikravar, a former MLA from Neetu, as its candidate for the Morena Lok Sabha seat. With his departure, the Congress has been further weakened in the Gwalior-Chambal belt, as Rawat held considerable sway in and around Morena.

Rawat became an MLA for the first time from Vijaypur in 1990, and retained the seat in 1993. After the BJP wrested the seat in 1998, he regained it in 2003 and retained it in 2008 and 2013. Even though the BJP won back the Vijaypur seat in 2018, Rawat won again in 2023 as a Congress candidate. This is despite the Congress being wiped out from most of the state, barring the Gwalior-Chambal region.

The Cabinet expansion is the first since the BJP’s victory in the Assembly elections in December 2023. While Yadav took oath as CM on December 11, Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda were sworn in as Deputy CMs on December 13.