Following the announcement of the Chief Minister’s name, the stage is set for the constitution of the Cabinet. With some of the Cabinet Ministers being expected to be sworn in along with the CM on Saturday, the BJP top brass, including the CM-designate Trivendra Singh Rawat, is now busy with the challenging task of accommodating some of the newly elected MlAs in the Cabinet. The party insiders said that fine-tuning the caste and regional factors while pleasing the state heavyweights must prove to be a difficult task, particularly given the state party unit being riddled with factionalism.
The party high command maintaining a studied silence on the matter, the media has little to fall back upon save hazarding guesses.
Speculations running rife, it is being supposed that a Thakur from Garhwal being made the chief minister, it naturally follows that a Brahmin from Kumaon would be favoured with an important post next to the CM. The man fitting the bill is the Pithoragarh MlA Prakash Pant who was one of the two front- runners for the state’s top job, the other being Trivendra Singh Rawat himself. This aside, Didihaat MlA Bishan Singh Chuhal from Pithoragarh district, Salt MlA Surendra Singh Jeena from Almora district and Kaladhungi MlA Banshidhar Bhagat from Nainital district are likely to see their ways into the cabinet. The claim of Kichha MlA Rajesh Shukla who has the distinction of trouncing the CM Harish Rawat can hardly be discounted, say the observers. Besides, there are Khatima MlA Pushkar Singh Dhami, close to Bhagat Singh Koshyari, and Bazpur MlA Yashpal Arya who quit the Harish Rawat cabinet to fight the election on a saffron ticket.
There is a galaxy of MlAs from Garhwal region who are strong contenders for berths in the state cabinet, given their excellent track records. Cant MlA Harbans Kapur, Vikasnagar MlA Munna Singh Chouhan and Mussoorie MlA Ganesh Joshi, all from Dehradun district, while Haridwar city MlA Madan Kaushik, Haridwar Rural MlA Swami Yatiswaranand who trounced the CM Harish Rawat and Khanpur MlA Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, all from Haridwar district, seem to be standing on strong grounds. Besides, Kotdwar MlA Harak Singh Rawat from Pauri district and Narendranagar MlA Subodh Uniyal from Tehri district are likely entrants into the cabinet.
As it is a compulsion for the party brass to induct at least one woman MlA in the cabinet, the names of Yamkeshwar MlA Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, daughter of Garhwal MP and former CM Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri, and Someshwar MlA Rekha Arya who had voted for BJP despite being a Congress MlA during the crucial Supreme Court- ordered floor test in May 2016 are doing the rounds as cabinet inductees.
The party insiders opined that the possibility of the
Choubattakhal MlA Satpal Maharaj being appointed as the Speaker is bright. “Making him a mere cabinet minister is not in tune with his towering stature. Giving him the post of the Speaker would suit things better,” said a BJP leader who requested anonymity.