New MP BJP core panel meets; UCC & women’s bill on agenda

Bhopal: The newly constituted 13-member Madhya Pradesh BJP core committee, which includes Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, held its first meeting at the chief minister's official residence on Tuesday evening, though Chouhan was absent as he is currently in Patna for appointment of Bihar's new CM.The meeting was attended by chief minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president Hemant Khandelwal, former state chief VD Sharma, deputy chief ministers Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda, and state cabinet ministers Kailash Vijayvargiya, Prahlad Singh Patel and Rakesh Singh. Other members present included BJP regional organisational general secretary Ajay Jamwal, state in-charge Mahendra Singh and former home minister Narottam Mishra. Closed-door meeting, which began around 7:30 pm and continued late into the evening, focused on organisational matters and upcoming political programmes. According to sources, discussions included preparations for awareness campaigns related to the proposed Nari Shakti Vandan (Amendment) Bill, 2026, expected to be taken up in a special session of Parliament this week. The committee also reviewed groundwork for the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill in the state. No official briefing was issued after the meeting.The BJP's state core committee has undergone multiple changes in recent years. The 2021 panel had 21 members, including several senior leaders such as then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (now Union minister for agriculture), former Union minister Thavar Chand Gehlot, state in-charge P Murlidhar Rao, Former Union ministers Pankaja Munde, Bisheswar Tudu, former Union minister and present speaker of the assembly Narendra Singh Tomar, senior cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya – then the BJP national general secretary, cabinet minister Rakesh Singh – then an MP from Jabalpur, former BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha (now deceased), Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste and former chief minister Vikram Verma. Union ministers and former office-bearers. In 2025, after Hemant Khandelwal took over as state president, the committee was downsized to nine members.Others in the previous core-committee were deputy CM Rajendra Shukla – then an MLA, former ministers Gopal Bhargava, Narottam Mishra, Jayant Malaiya, former MP Krishna Murari Moghe and national SC Morcha president Lal Singh Arya. In 2025, the core committee was restructured after Hemant Khandelwal was appointed as state party president after completion of the tenure of VD Sharma. However, under Khandelwal, the core committee ceased to be bulky. Instead of 21 members, it had only nine members. A new core committee was appointed last week which increased the members to 13 bringing Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, VD Sharma and Narottam Mishra back into the committee.