MP BJP eyes Union Cabinet berths for Sushma, Mahajan

With the BJP winning 27 out of the total 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, party leaders are looking for inclusion of at least 3-4 ministers from the state in Narendra Modi's Cabinet.

The spectacular win of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh for the first time after the carving out of Chhattisgarh state from it has fuelled the aspirations of party leaders as well as people, party sources told reporters.

Among the probables, Leader of Opposition in the last Lok Sabha and Vidisha MP, Sushma Swaraj is the top most contender from the state for a Union Cabinet berth.

Eighth time MP from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan is also a powerful contender.

State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar's claim is also strong as he along with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gifted 27 seats to Modi, who during his rallies prior to the Lok Sabha polls had urged people to send "maximum lotuses" from MP for a strong central government, sources said.

Tomar won from the prestigious Gwalior seat with a margin of nearly 30,000 votes in a keenly contested election.

The name of parliamentary board member and Rajya Sabha MP, Thavarchand Gehlot, who was deputed by the party to select a successor to Modi in Gujarat, is also doing rounds for a Cabinet berth. Gehlot hails from Malwa-Nimad region and represented Shajapur Lok Sabha seat (now Dewas) for four terms, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004, sources said.

Former Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste is also a contender. He was one of the BJP MPs who displayed wads of currency notes in connection with the cash-for-vote scam during the July 22, 2008 trust vote in the Lok Sabha. This time he won the LS polls from Mandla, they said.

The name of former Union minister Prahlad Patel, who won from Damoh LS seat, is also doing rounds for inclusion in the Union Cabinet, the sources said.

"Though it is the prerogative of Prime Minister, we are confident that under the leadership of Modiji, Madhya Pradesh will get due representation and injustice being meted out to it since last ten years of UPA rule will end soon," state BJP's media in-charge Hitesh Bajpai told reporters.