After the assessment of the work of ministers in the past five months, some portfolios might be changed and some new faces might be included. Sources say six new ministers can be incorporated in the Cabinet. Death of Gopinath Munde and result of Assembly Elections in two States are some of the factors which are building the base for changes
Narendra Modi will probably make changes in his Government before the winter session of Parliament. After the assessment of the work of ministers in the past five months, some portfolios might be changed and some new faces might be included. Sources say six new ministers can be incorporated in the Cabinet. Death of BJP veteran Gopinath Munde and result of Assembly Elections in two States are some of the factors which are building the base for changes. Apart from these, elections are scheduled in December and keeping that in mind, some new faces can be accommodated.
It is said that if a need arises for a post-poll alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, one more face from the Sena will be inducted in the Cabinet. Apart from that, BJP MP Hansraj Ahir may be given a ministerial berth. It must be noted that he played an important role in exposing the coal scam and taking it to the court. Elections are scheduled in Jharkhand, so one MP from the State can be made a minister. A ministerial berth can also be given to someone from Bihar.
MANY VIE FOR MINISTERIAl BERTH
With speculations on Cabinet expansion doing the rounds, lobbying by candidates has started. leaders from Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have become hopeful. Though it is also true that no one is sure of their chances. They are of the view that anything unexpected can happen, just like when Modi had announced his Cabinet.
If the BJP forms the Government in Maharashtra, Nitin Gadkari can be made the Chief Minister. Under this scenario, two important ministries — surface transport and rural development — which are in the Maharashtra quota will be vacant. Many leaders are claiming stake on the two ministries. Names of Hansraj Ahir and Kirit Somaiya are doing the rounds.
It is also being discussed that Jayant Sinha can be made a minister. But keeping elections and local equations in mind, Nishikant Dubey and Ravindra Rai are also strong candidates. CP Thakur, Ashwini Chaubey, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, RK Singh and Ram Kripal Yadav are strong candidates from Bihar. SS Ahluwalia from West Bengal, Anurag Thakur from Himachal Pradesh, Ramesh Pokhariyal from Uttarakhand and Vasundhra’s son Dushyant from Rajasthan are also said to be candidates for ministerial berths. Some other names are Arun Shourie, Suresh Prabhu and Subramanian Swamy.
PM ON TARGET IN TWO STATES
The Prime Minister has turned the fight of Maharashtra and Haryana into Modi vs others. Modi, Amit Shah and other leaders of the BJP are campaigning in a way that shows Modi fighting elections in both States. As a result, leaders of almost all parties have left aside local issues and local leaders, and are targetting Modi.
In Haryana, Modi is on the radar of the Congress, INlD and HJC, which was once an alliance partner of the BJP. When Modi attacked the Congress and INlD, accusing them of corruption, they counter-attacked Modi. They said 100 days of Modi Government were a gross failure, that he was indulging in polarisation and misleading people.
In Maharashtra, Modi is in the firing line of four major parties — Shiv Sena, MNS, Congress and NCP. Though Modi is not saying anything about Raj and Uddhav Thackeray, they are attacking him. Prithviraj Chavan and Sharad Pawar are also targetting Modi. But the BJP leaders are quite happy with their strategy. They know that after turning the fight into Modi vs others, they have won half the battle. The party is expecting vote en-masse in the name of Modi. In this manner, the BJP has made up for lack of strong leaders in the States.
PlANS FOR NEHRU, INDIRA BIRTHDAYS
This year, Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary turned into Modi’s show. On October 2, the PM launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan and thus became the talk of the TV and social media whole day long. He fixed the schedule in such a way that the cleanliness mission will go on for the next five years, ie till the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji. Now he will do something similar on the birth anniversaries of Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
Modi has said that there must be cleanliness drives in schools from November 14 (Nehru’s birthday) to November 19 (Indira’s birthday). This is the first time that someone has connected the two birth anniversaries.
In fact, this will be the 125th birth anniversary of the first PM of the country, Nehru. The Congress too wants to make it a big occasion. An international seminar is being planned in which experts from across the world are being invited. It is said that sensing the plans of the Congress, Modi has added more programmes to his list. Now, the Congress leaders are worried that the focus will be on Modi.
DISPUTE IN CONG OVER SOFT HINDUISM
These days, a new dispute has arisen within the Congress. The row started when the Congress, after losing the lok Sabha battle, started talking about respect for all religions. Afterwards, when Digvijaya Singh talked about attacking Muslim extremists and going soft on Hinduism, the dispute aggravated. Now the leaders of the party are not vocal on issues like Hindu terrorism, polarisation, communalism and secularism. Most of the leaders have started talking about soft Hinduism.
Digvijaya’s home State Madhya Pradesh has become the centre for this. Firstly, a Ganesha idol was put at the State party office in Bhopal and a grand puja was done.
After that some leaders were of the view that even Bakrid should have been celebrated. Interestingly, Akbar Baig, who was once secretary of PCC, reached the party office with mutton biryani and other non-vegetarian items.
Now he claims that the party leaders treated him as if he was an untouchable. He is alleging that the Congress is also following the path of Hinduism. Many veterans of the Congress are of the view that this type of propaganda can damage the party, especially in States where regional parties are in a strong position.
There are apprehensions that the regional parties might snatch away the minority vote bank of the Congress.