20 months after coming to power in Chhattisgarh, BJP inducts three Ministers to the cabinet

The three ministers come from different communities that form potential vote banks in the state. Gajendra Yadav belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) community and has strong links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was elected to the Assembly from Durg City constituency.

Guru Khushwant Saheb represents Arang constituency in Raipur. He is a spiritual leader of the Satnami Samaj which falls under the Scheduled Caste (SC) category and is a key vote bank in the region.

Rajesh Agrawal, who represents Ambikapur constituency, defeated senior Congress leader and then deputy chief minister T S Singh Deo in the 2023 Assembly polls. Agrawal comes from an influential trader community.

Political observers, meanwhile, attributed the delay in inducting the ministers to issues within the saffron party. “The Cabinet has finally been expanded after nearly two years. Till now, the BJP was unable to induct new ministers due to political infighting. The BJP appears to be bringing in new faces while senior leaders like Rajesh Munat, Amar Agrawal and Ajay Chandrakar, who are former ministers, are being snubbed,” said political analyst Diwakar Muktibodh.

In the 2023 Assembly elections, the BJP won 54 seats, the Congress won 35, and one seat went to the Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GGP). Besides chief minister Sai, 11 others were named in the Cabinet, including Brijmohan Agrawal who later quit as MLA and successfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.