BHOPAL: In a major reshuffle in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Lakhan Patel has been stripped of the Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development portfolio.
A notification issued by the General Administration Department late on Tuesday reassigned the minister for the first time to the Anand (Happiness) Department, a relatively less important portfolio.
The department of animal husbandry and dairy development will now be directly supervised by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, taking the number of departments under his charge to 11.
While the government has not disclosed the reason for the move, it comes weeks after the prime minister held one-on-one review meetings with ministers to assess their performance and that of their departments.
A section of political observers has linked the development to the recent performance review, the findings of which are said to have been shared with the central BJP leadership. Sources said the move could be the first in a series of changes ahead of a possible cabinet reshuffle.
The corridors of power in Bhopal are also abuzz with other possible reasons behind the decision.
According to informed sources, the move may be related to delays in resolving issues following the transfer of the management of the State Milk Cooperative Federation and its six milk unions to the National Milk Development Board (NDDB) under a five-year agreement signed on April 13, 2025.
The agreement, signed in the presence of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, aims to double the state’s milk production and revive defunct rural dairy cooperatives.
Another theory doing the rounds in political circles is that concerns over the implementation of the Prime Minister’s flagship Mukhyamantri Swawlambi Gaushala Yojana may have contributed to Patel’s loss of the portfolio. The scheme seeks to modernize cattle management by shifting stray and abandoned cattle from highways to large, self-sustaining gaushalas.
Sources said matters related to the scheme were referred to the RSS and BJP leadership, after which the portfolio was taken away from the minister. It remains to be seen if any action will be initiated against senior officials in this department.
“Had the July 30 by-election to the Datia assembly seat not been there, Patel could have been dropped from the council of ministers as well. But the concern of touching over 90,000 OBC votes probably stopped the extreme move to remove the minister,” informed sources claimed.
Patel, a second-term MLA from Patharia in Damoh district, belongs to the Kurmi community, an OBC caste. This is the second time in two years that a prime minister has been stripped of a key portfolio while remaining in the cabinet.
In July 2024, first-time minister and tribal leader Nagarsing Chouhan was removed from the Forest portfolio and reassigned to the Scheduled Caste Welfare Department. The Forest Department was then handed over to former Congress leader Ramniwas Rawat, who had joined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but later lost the Vijaypur Assembly by-election.
After the reshuffle, Chouhan had publicly expressed his disappointment and said he was considering resigning from the cabinet.
