With eye on bypolls, MP allots 781 cr for Chambal Expressway

"The proposed expressway will have a length of 309 kilometres in MP and will be a connector to Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh," Chouhan said. Incidentally, the money has been sanctioned two days after a cabinet expansion in the state in which 10 leaders from Chambal and Gwalior got berths.

The Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday sanctioned Rs 781 crore for an expressway through Chambal, a region which along with Gwalior accounts for 16 of the 24 seats for which bypolls are needed. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced the sanctioning of money for the project in a virtual meeting with Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, an MP public relations officer told PTI.

The virtual meet was also attended by Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia, he added. "The proposed expressway will have a length of 309 kilometres in MP and will be a connector to Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh," Chouhan said.

Incidentally, the money has been sanctioned two days after a cabinet expansion in the state in which 10 leaders from Chambal and Gwalior got berths. The region now has 11 ministers, including powerful state BJP leader Narottam Mishra.

"So 11 MP ministers will be from Gwalior and Chambal regions," said political analyst Keshav Pandey. Twenty-two Congress MLAs, including 16 from Gwalior- Chambal, had resigned from the Assembly in March, bringing down the Kamal Nath dispensation and paving the way for Chouhan to become CM for the fourth time.

Two seats are vacant due to the death of legislators.