Uma Bharti refused to comment on Madhya Pradesh cabinet expansion (File)
Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Thursday refused to comment on the Cabinet expansion by Madhya Pradesh's Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan earlier during the day.
Asked about the MP government's Cabinet expansion here outside the special CBI court after her deposition in the Babri mosque demolition case trial, state's former Chief Minister Bharti said, "What can be said about it here in the court?"
Earlier during the day, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expanded his Cabinet, inducting 28 new ministers, including a dozen loyalists of BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose exit from the Congress in March led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government in the state.
Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to new ministers at a function in the Bhopal Raj Bhavan.
The event was organized amid strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols.
Those inducted include 20 Cabinet ministers and eight ministers of state.
Prominent among the new ministers are BJP MLAs Yashodhara Raje Scindia and Gopal Bhargava.
Mr Chouhan took oath as state's chief minister for a record fourth term on March 23 this year after Kamal Nath resigned from the post following the rebellion by 22 Congress MLAs.
The initial "mini" expansion of the Mr Chouhan Cabinet took place on April 21 with the induction of five ministers, including two former Congress MLAs close to Scindia -- Tulsi Silawat and Govind Singh Rajput.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)