Seasoned Congress leader Kamal Nath was sworn-in as state Chief Minister on 17 December, six days after his party clinched a narrow victory over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which ruled the state for 15 years.
Nath has been staying put in New Delhi since the past three days to fine tune the list of his Cabinet colleagues, to be sworn in Tuesday, in consultation with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders. Other senior leaders of the party, AK Antony, Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia are trying to reach consensus of the faces, keeping in mind the upcoming Lok Sabha elections scheduled in May, this year and the regional balance.
According to party sources, one or two Independent MLAs may get into the new Cabinet.
Though the Congress, with 114 seats, emerged as the single largest party in the 230-member Assembly, it failed to secure an absolute majority on its own and took support of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), to cross the half-way mark.
Four Independent MLAs, who are Congress rebels, have also extended their support, taking the total number of MLAs on the Congress side to 121. The BJP had won 109 seats.
The Madhya Pradesh Assembly session is scheduled to commence on 7 January with the oath-taking by newly elected MLAs.