2 women, 1 Muslim among 28 ministers inducted in Nath Cabinet
Bhopal, Dec 25: Over a week after taking charge, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath Tuesday inducted 28 MLAs, including two women and an Independent, into his Cabinet which has a mix of old and new faces, but left out BSP and SP legislators.
Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to the new ministers at a ceremony in the Raj Bhavan here attended by Nath and senior Congress leaders.
Nath, who did not contest the November 28 Assembly polls and was the only one to take oath last week, is heading the first Congress government in Madhya Pradesh in 15 years.
All the ministers, which included the son of senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh, took oath in Hindi and were accorded the Cabinet rank.
Ministers in the previous Digvijay Singh government and senior Congress MLAs like Govind Singh (MLA from Lahar), Arif Aqueel (Bhopal North), Bala Bachchan (Rajpur ST), Sajjan Singh Verma (Sonkutch), Vijay Laxmi Sadho (Maheshawr) and Hukum Singh Karada (Shajapur) found a place in the Nath Cabinet.
Aqueel is the lone Muslim MLA in the cabinet.
Besides, Tulsi Silawat (Sanver) and Prabhuram Chowdhary (Sanchi), both former parliamentary secretaries, were also administered oath.
Jaivardhan Singh, the MLA from Raghogarh and the son of Digvijay Singh, was also inducted into the cabinet.
Jaivardhan Singh, 32, is the youngest minister.
Kasrawad legislator Sachin Yadav, 36, younger brother of former Pradesh Congress Committee chief and ex-Union minister Arun Yadav, was also sworn in.
Besides Sadho, another woman MLA Imarati Devi (elected from Dabra) was inducted into the Cabinet.
Independent MLA Pradeep Jaiswal (Waraseoni), who contested as a Congress rebel, also took oath.
Others who got ministerial berths for the first time are: Brijendra Singh Rathore (Prithvipur), Lakhan Singh Yadav (Bhitarwar), Govind Rajput (Surkhi), Omkar Markam (Dindori), Sukhdeo Panse (Multai), Harsh Yadav (Deori), Kamleshwar Patel (Sihawal), Lakhan Ghanghoriya (Jabalpur East), Tarun Bhanot (Jabalpur West), PC Sharma (Bhopal South-West), Surendra Singh Baghel (Kukshi), Jitu Patwari (Rau), Umang Singhar (Gandhwani), Pradyumn Singh Tomar (Gwalior), Mahendra Singh Sisodiya (Bamori) and Priyavrat Singh (Khilchipur).
According to sources, the names of the ministers were finalised by state Congress leaders, including Nath, party's campaign committee chairman Jyotiraditya Scindia and Digvijay Singh, after discussions with party president Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders.
Nath, took oath as the 18th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh on December 17, had gone to New Delhi last week and returned here along with Scindia Tuesday afternoon after holding discussions with the party leadership on cabinet formation.
Though the Congress, with 114 seats, emerged as the single largest party in the 230-member Assembly, it failed to cross the halfway mark (116) on its own and enlisted the support of the BSP and the SP, which have won two seats and one, respectively.
However, no MLA from the Mayawati-led BSP or the SP was given place in the Cabinet.
Four Independent MLAs, all Congress rebels, have also extended their support to the Nath government, taking the total number of MLAs on the Congress side to 121.
The BJP had won 109 seats.
Meanwhile, supporters of senior Congress MLA K P Singh (Pichhore) staged a protest outside his Bhopal residence demanding his inclusion in the cabinet.
Later in the evening, an informal meeting of the newly formed Cabinet was convened at Indira Bhawan, the PCC headquarters.
On the other hand, a Congress spokesman said the MLA from Gotegaon, N P Prajapati, would be the party's candidate for the post of Speaker.
The first session of the newly elected Assembly is slated to begin from January 7 during which MLAs will take oath.
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Kerala court sentences man to life imprisonment for doc's murder in hospital
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Kollam (PTI): A teacher convicted in the sensational murder of Dr Vandana Das inside a hospital here was sentenced to life term on Saturday, and the prosecution said it will move an appeal seeking death penalty for the accused. The victim's family also batted for "maximum punishment".
Dr Das was brutally killed inside a taluk hospital in May 2023 by G Sandeep.
Kollam Additional District and Sessions judge P N Vinod sentenced Sandeep to a total of 30 years for various offences under the then Indian Penal Code (IPC) and said that after he serves that period, his life imprisonment for Das' murder will commence.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.35 lakh on the convict.
Though the prosecution had sought death penalty for the accused during the arguments on sentence, the court was of the view that the case does not fall under the rarest-of-rare category to warrant the maximum punishment.
It was also of the view that there was a chance of the convict getting reformed as he told the court that the rest of his life would be one of repentance, the order on sentence said.
"At the same time, I agree with the stand of the prosecution to the effect that the sentence should commensurate with the gravity of the crime and the sentence should not only be reformative, but should also have a deterrent effect."
"In my view, the said objective can be achieved by directing that the term sentences that will be imposed will run consecutively and life sentence that has to be imposed will commence only after the expiration of terms sentences," the judge said.
After the verdict, special public prosecutor (SPP) Prathap G Padickal told reporters outside the court that he will recommend to the prosecution to file an appeal seeking enhancement of the life imprisonment to death penalty.
The victim's father said that the verdict has come as a relief for the family, but that he cannot authoritatively say whether his late daughter has got justice. He indicated his dissatisfaction with the punishment, saying that steps will be taken to seek its enhancement after discussions with the public prosecutor.
Dr Das' mother said that the family can only wish for the maximum punishment and it was up to the court to decide what sentence should be given. She said that the family will go in appeal, but declined to comment on whether her daughter got justice.
She tearfully said that she wants the convict to suffer the same pain that her daughter underwent "as he stabbed her 27 times".
The court on March 17 had convicted Sandeep for various offences under the IPC, including murder, destruction of evidence and wrongful restraint.
It had also held him guilty under the provisions of the Kerala Healthcare Service Persons and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of violence and damage to property) Act 2012.
Sandeep was brought to the taluk hospital by the police for medical treatment during the small hours of May 10, 2023 and he went on a sudden attacking spree using a pair of surgical scissors kept in the room where his leg injury was being dressed.
A school teacher by profession, he had initially attacked the police officers and another person who had accompanied him to the hospital and then turned on the young Dr Das, who could not escape to safety.
She was stabbed several times and later succumbed to her injuries in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where she was rushed following the attack.
Dr Das was a native of the Kaduthuruthy area of Kottayam district and the only child of her parents.
She was a house surgeon at Azeezia Medical College Hospital and was working at the Kottarakkara taluk hospital as part of her training.
Sandeep had called the emergency number 112, claiming that his life was in danger. When local police located him, he was standing close by his home, surrounded by local residents and his relatives, and had a wound on his leg following an alleged quarrel.
He was then taken to the hospital for dressing the wound.
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