All BJP MPs who had quit Parliament after being elected in the recent Madhya Pradesh polls were on Monday inducted into the cabinet led by chief minister Mohan Yadav, barring Riti Pathak.

The party had fielded seven MPs, including three Union ministers in the Assembly polls, of whom five won. Of them, former Union minister Narendra Tomar was elected Speaker. The rest, including Tomar’s former Union cabinet colleague Prahlad Patel, Rakesh Singh and Uday Pratap Singh, were sworn in as ministers on Monday.

Yadav had taken oath as the chief minister on December 13 along with his two deputies Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda.

Governor Mangubhai Patel administered the oath of office to 18 more ministers and 10 ministers of state, including six with independent charge, at the Raj Bhavan on Monday afternoon.

Two of the 18 ministers are women.

Pathak, the MLA from the coal-mining constituency of Sidhi, was widely expected to become a minister owing to her victory margin of more than 35,000 votes in the seat where the incumbent BJP MLA was dropped after his aide was accused of urinating on a tribal peasant.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya — who was in charge of the Bengal until last year — also found a place in the cabinet. His rival and former chief minister Shivraj Chouhan —who had unsuccessfully pitched for a fifth term — posted on X: “I am confident that all of you will create a new history of service to the public and progress of the state with all your strength, complete devotion and dedication.”

Four loyalists of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who defected to the BJP from the Congress in 2020 were also sworn in. Of them, Pradyuman Singh Tomar welcomed Scindia at Bhopal airport on Monday by prostrating at his feet.

The Yadav government has started off on a note of strident Hindutva by launching drives against meat shops and unauthorised loudspeakers, calling for the prime meridian to be shifted to Ujjain and new norms on Christmas celebrations in schools in at least two districts.