Even with the BJP not officially announcing the date of cabinet expansion due to increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh, the proposed rejig of Shivraj Singh Chouhan team is believed to have got stuck amid preparations to mark the first anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government at the Centre. Chouhan, however, reiterated on Friday, May 29, that his cabinet expansion would be held shortly.

“There is no trouble in the cabinet expansion. It will be done soon”, said Chouhan in Umaria on Friday when asked over the delay in cabinet expansion.

Discussion over the cabinet expansion in the state has been going on for about a month, but has remained stuck so far — first due to differences of opinion over who would be included in the team, and later when it was decided that the list of names would be approved only by the national leadership in New Delhi. Chouhan. who was likely to visit Delhi this week, could not get a go-ahead from the high command, reportedly due to various reasons including increasing number of Covid-19 positive cases across the state and the country, decision on the status of the nationwide lockdown and the proposed plan to observe the first anniversary of NDA government, said highly placed sources.

It was also surmised that Chouhan, who held the parleys with state BJP chief V. D. Sharma and the organisational general secretary Suhas Bhagat over cabinet expansion in the last three days, had finalised the list of probables to the central leadership and sought time from national party president J. P. Nadda and other senior leaders to discuss the matter in person. But Chouhan could not visit New Delhi due to preparation for lockdown 5.0, added sources.

Of the 22 former MLAs and supporters of former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, two had joined the state cabinet on April 21 while eight more are likely to be inducted in the coming rejig of the team.

There are positive reports on Corona front. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan started analysis with senior officials and doctors about every Covid death in the state. Firstly, a detailed analysis of the Covid deaths was done with dean and medical specialist of medical college Indore. Indore is one of the most affected 13 cities of the country.

In the meeting, it was decided that three officers will keep special watch on the corona related arrangements of Indore, Ujjain and Bhopal. ACS health Mohammad Suleman will take special care of the arrangements in Indore, principal secretary Faiz Ahmed Kidwai in Bhopal and principal secretary Sanjay Shukla in Ujjain.

Chouhan said that in order to ensure that no community spread prevails anywhere in the state, all the collectors should ensure intensive survey, contact tracing, testing as well as strict lockdown in the infected areas with all other precautions.

Reviewing the Rewa district, Chouhan directed that utmost care should be taken to ensure that there are no deaths from corona in the district. The collector informed that there were 35 corona positive patients in the district, out of which 10 have been discharged. The number of active patients is 25 and no death in the district from corona has been reported yet.

Chief Minister instructed that complete care should be taken to check spread of infection from migrant labourers. Ensure their health test and proper quarantine arrangement he added. There should be good arrangement of healthy food, clean water, fans and toilets in isolation for the labourers.

ACS health Suleman said that the mortality rate of corona in Madhya Pradesh is 4.3 per cent as against the national average of 2.8 per cent. He said that there has been a decrease in the active cases in the state. On May29, total 192 new corona infected patients were found while 219 recovered patients were discharged. The number of active cases in the state is 3,042. The state’s corona recovery rate has gone up to 56 per cent against national average of 42.8 per cent. (IPA Service)