BHOPAL: In a bizarre development during the mini-expansion of the Mohan Yadav-led council of ministers in Madhya Pradesh on Monday morning, the newly inducted cabinet minister Ramniwas Rawat had to take oath twice in 15 minutes due to an error while reading the text of the oath of office and secrecy.Rawat, the 64-year-old six-time Congress MLA from Gwalior-Chambal region (who joined the BJP on April 30), was inducted into the state cabinet through the swearing-in ceremony at the Raj Bhawan in the morning.He was first administered the oath of office and secrecy at around 9.03 am as cabinet minister. But while reading the Hindi text which read ‘Rajya ke mantri ke roop mein’ (as a minister of Madhya Pradesh), the veteran politician inadvertently misread it as ‘Rajya mantri’ (minister of state).Just after the gaffe came to the fore, Rawat was sworn in again (as cabinet minister) by the state’s Governor Mangubhai Patel and this time the seasoned politician made no error while reading the oath’s text.Since Rawat had signed on the register categorizing him as a cabinet minister after the first oath, there was no need for him to resign as minister of state before taking oath as cabinet minister, official sources said.Monday morning’s mini-cabinet expansion — which is perhaps the first time a single minister has been inducted in the cabinet in the state’s history – means that the Mohan Yadav-led council of ministers now has 32 members, including the CM, 2 deputy CMs, 19 cabinet ministers and ten ministers of state. Two vacancies still exist in the council of ministers, which can have a maximum of 34 members.
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