Bhopal:

Madhya Pradesh BJP MLA Ramniwas Rawat – a Congress leader and a recent addition to the ruling party – was inducted into Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s cabinet this morning. However, what should have been a routine procedure was marked by an unusual, even chaotic, sequence of events.

Mr Rawat was scheduled to be sworn in – at 9 am by Governor Mangubhai C Patel at Raj Bhavan, with the Chief Minister and other dignitaries looking on – as a Cabinet Minister. By 9.03 am he was administered the oath – but that of a Minister of State, a junior post.

Fifteen minutes later Mr Rawat was administered a second oath – as a Cabinet Minister.

The double oath-taking ceremony has led to questions about procedural lapses.

The oath ceremony faux pas underlined the odd nature of Mr Rawat’s induction. He is now the first person to serve as a minister in a BJP government while still being a Congress MLA.

How? Because Mr Rawat has not yet resigned from the Congress, for whom he was also Working President of the party’s state unit and the MLA from the Vijaypur Assembly constituency.

He has, nonetheless, become a member of the BJP and a minister.

Mr Rawat is also in the unprecedented position of being both a MoS and Cabinet Minister.

This happened because he did not formally resign from the former (after being administered the incorrect oath) before taking oath for the latter.

Mr Rawat spoke to NDTV after the chaotic sequence of events and expressed gratitude towards the BJP for making him a minister. He also hit out at his not-yet-former employer.

“Congress has no right to accuse me… there is no resentment (from my side) but what they did not give me, this government respected me…” he declared. Reflecting on his unusual oath, “I missed the word ‘ka’ by mistake. I took oath twice… I am the first minister to take oath twice in half an hour.”

The Congress – which has filed a petition with Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar – to disqualify Mr Rawat and Nirmala Sapre, another now ex-leader to join the BJP – has been quick to react.

Congress spokesperson Avaneesh Bundela has questioned the BJP’s claim of good governance.

“In the government of Dr Mohan Yadav, which claims to be about good governance, today there was such negligence… a mistake like this has probably never been seen before in the country.”

“Now there is confusion,” he said claiming the error had been triggered either by “negligence” from the Governor’s office or “pressure from higher political figures”, referring to former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and ex-Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Mr Rawat, a six-time MLA from Sheopur district, joined the BJP in April, He was previously the junior Home Minister in the Congress government led by Digvijaya Singh.

The induction today means the state government has 19 Cabinet Ministers

Mr Rawat’s jump to the BJP will trigger a by-election for his seat.

Bhopal:

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav has announced stringent measures to combat of paper leaks in the state – a proposed law that involves a 10-year jail term and Rs 1 crore fine and categorises it as a non-bailable offence.

At the recent NDTV MPCG MSME Conclave in Bhopal, Dr. Yadav said, “Very soon, a proposal will come that there will be 10 years imprisonment and strict action”.

The proposed law is more stringent that the Central anti-paper leak law, which has provisions for three to five years of imprisonment for those guilty of cheating. Those organizing the cheating – solver gangs and others — will face five to 10 years of imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs 1 crore.

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024 was passed by the Rajya Sabha on February 9 and Lok Sabha passed it on February 6.

The decision to bring the new law was taken by the state cabinet amid the huge uproar over paper leaks and other irregularities in the medical entrance examination NEET and a few others.

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi has called the BJP-ruled states the “epicentre of paper leaks,” citing Vyapam — a massive scam that erupted in Madhya Pradesh 15 years ago, involving irregularities in the entrance exams for government jobs.

From there, it has spread to all BJP-ruled states, Mr Gandhi had said, in a reference to the paper leak in the Uttar Pradesh Police Constable exam.

About the Congress uproar in the House over the nursing scam, exposed first by NDTV, Dr. Yadav maintained that the government is open to discussions and legal processes.

“There are many subjects on which there are some legal problems. We are always ready to hold any discussion under the rules and laws,” he said. “The Opposition should come up with good preparations and present their issue before the public. If there is a mistake, we will accept it. But forcing us without any mistake is not right; everyone has to stay within their dignity.”

On a different note, he said the ministers of the state, including himself, will now pay their own income tax. The decision has been echoed by the Leader of the Opposition.

Reacting to an NDTV report about the Madhya Pradesh government paying the income tax of its ministers, Dr. Yadav said, “I am satisfied that now our minister’s will pay their own income tax. We are not royals. We are elected people. We come from the middle of society and understand the value of tax collection”.

Bhopal:

A third key leader of the Congress from Madhya Pradesh has made a beeline for the BJP, with a thousand supporters on a day Rahul Gandhi is campaigning in the state. Former Congress minister and six-time MLA Ramniwas Rawat joined the BJP at a huge rally  Sheopur today in presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state party chief VD Sharma, and former home minister Narottam Mishra.

At the time, Rahul Gandhi was addressing a gathering in neighbouring Bhind district.

Mr Rawat, 64, is the sitting MLA from Vijaypur and one of the prominent Congress leaders in the Gwalior-Chambal region. The Vijaypur Assembly segment falls under the Morena Lok Sabha constituency, the home district of BJP veteran and Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar.

Mr Rawat is the second sitting Congress MLA to join the BJP since the elections have been announced. On March 29, Kamlesh Shah, MLA from the Amarwada assembly segment in Chhindwara, considered close to former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, joined the BJP.

Since March, there has been an exodus of Congress leaders to the BJP camp. A handful of leaders quit the party in March.

Ten days ago, former MLA Hari Vallabh Shukla crossed over in Bhopal along with his supporters and other leaders.

Yesterday, Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination from the Indore constituency ahead of the elections in Indore, due on May 13. Within hours, he joined the BJP. The Congress had fielded Mr Bam against sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani.

The defections come as the BJP — which swept the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well as last year’s assembly elections — is hoping for a repeat performance.

Madhya Pradesh has 29 Lok Sabha seats, of which 28 were won by the BJP in 2019. The exception was Chhindwara, traditionally a Congress bastion.

Now, with former Chief Minister Kamal Nath fielding his son Nakul Nath from the constituency instead of contesting himself, confidence is high in the BJP camp.   

Mohan Yadav’s predecessor Shivraj Singh Chouhan has told NDTV that the BJP will win all seats, including Chhindwara and Raigarh, from where senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh is contesting.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is focused on his priorities. So much so, that his three children do not stay with him in the official Chief Minister’s bungalow as he says the focus on family might come in the way of his responsibilities and may “dilute it”.

Mr Yadav, 49, a first-time Chief Minister, is father to a daughter and two sons.  

“My child is studying in Bhopal. He has completed his MBBS course and is now doing his MS. Now you tell me, if he is in this environment won’t he be disturbed. So if he has to study properly, he should focus on that,” the Chief Minister told NDTV’s Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia in an exclusive interview.

“Earlier, my daughter was doing her MBBS course here in Bhopal.  Even then I told her that you have to study in a hostel. The children are also okay with this. I have the satisfaction that there is a positive approach towards this in my family,” he underlined.

Asked if he is not being too tough on the family, Mr Yadav said, “We will have to toughen up. When we will understand, the message will percolate down. Our responsibilities might be diluted if we focus only on family. So we have got to save ourselves from that sentiment. The more one grows, the more one should be careful.” 

Bhopal:

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav remained non-ciommittal about reports of Congress veteran Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath joining the party. Asked about the natter in an exclusive interview, he told NDTV, “I have considered only  kamal (Loyus, the BJP symbol) but not Kamal Nath. We have many kamals in our party and by God’s grace we manage to bloom in the mud”.

Asked what would the party do if they wished to join, he sidestepped, saying he was only concerned with the present.

There was a massive buzz earlier this year that Kamal Nath and his son were joining the BJP. Both denied and Nakul Nath was later named the Congress candidate from Chhindwara. He will face-off against the BJP’s Vivek Sahu.

Mr Nath, a former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, was removed from the top post of the party after the Congress failed to win the assembly elections amid reports of considerable anti-incumbency against the BJP.

Ahead of the election a number of aides of Mr Nath, including former minister and four-time Congress MLA from Chhindwara Dipak Saxena, Chhindwara Mayor Vikram Ahake, Amarwara MLA Kamlesh Pratap Shah, have joined the BJP.  

Mr Yadav, who took charge of the state after the BJP’s huge victory in last year’s assembly election, said the Congress  robs its people of morale.

Discussing the trend of Congress leaders and workers crossing over to the BJP ahead of the general elections, he said the Congress “has broken the morale of many people. The BJP stands by what it says”.

As examples he cited the scrapping of the Article 370 of the constitution that gave Jammu and Kashmir its special status, the scrapping of Triple Talaq and the building of the Ram temple in Ayodhya – all of which were long-term promises of the BJP.

“People come to the BJP because they feel inspired by our work,” he said. The Congress is a dynastic party, its leadership is “useless” but now the country is “looking at them differently”, he added.

Jabalpur:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday kickstarted the BJP’s Lok Sabha poll campaign in Madhya Pradesh with a roadshow in Jabalpur.

He was accompanied by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state PWD minister Rakesh Singh and the party’s Jabalpur Lok Sabha candidate Ashish Dubey.

The roadshow started around 6:30 pm from Shaheed Bhagat Singh crossing and culminated at Adi Shankaracharya crossing in Gorakhpur locality here at 7:15 pm.

पीएम श्री @narendramodi का जबलपुर, मध्य प्रदेश में भव्य रोड शो।#MP_के_मन_में_मोदी
https://t.co/gEoahgRnVB

— BJP (@BJP4India) April 7, 2024

PM Modi, who is on his first visit to the state after Lok Sabha polls were announced, Mr Yadav and others held the BJP’s poll symbol ‘lotus’ as their saffron coloured vehicle moved during the well-attended roadshow.

A large number of people had lined up on either side of the route and were seen clicking photographs and shooting videos using mobile phones.

Several of them held ‘Mera Ghar Modi Ka Ghar’ and ‘Mera Pariwar Modi Ka Pariwar’ placards.

The BJP had started a campaign to highlight that the people of the country comprised PM Modi’s family, the move coming after Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Yadav had said the PM spoke about dynastic politics but had no family of his own.

Tribals groups performed several dances enroute, including ‘Badhai Nritya’, a dance form of the state’s Bundelkhand region that is on display to mark marriages, childbirth and other happy occasions.

A BJP leader said special arrangements were in place to shower PM Modi with flowers when the roadshow passes through Gorakhpur market.

Jabalpur is part of the state’s Mahakoshal region, which also comprises Chhindwara, the only Lok Sabha seat the BJP had failed to win in the 2019 polls. The ruling party had swept the remaining 28 seats in MP.

Jabalpur and Chhindwara will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 along with Sidhi, Shahdol (ST), Mandla (ST) and Balaghat.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)