Council of Ministers to be sworn-in with PM
Amidst fiery speculation and wild guesses on portfolios, all bigwigs in the BJP are set to join the Cabinet of Narendra Modi who would be sworn-in on Monday as the Prime Minister, leading the first Government of the BJP with a clear majority. The list of Council of Ministers, who will take oath along with Modi is expected to be conveyed to the Rashtrapati Bhavan by Monday morning.
Rajnath is expected to be given the responsibility of the Home Ministry and Arun Jaitley might be saddled with the Finance portfolio even though Arun Shourie is also understood to be a contender for the key post. Shourie’s name is also figuring as advisor in the Planning Commission. Given his legal background, Ravi Shankar Prasad may be tipped for law and Justice.
A new BJP president would be appointed if the incumbent Rajnath Singh joins the Government, sources said. The frontrunner for the post is said to be JP Nadda, the BJP’s general secretary and a Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh since 2012.
Senior BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj are to find place in the Modi Cabinet. Other BJP heavyweights lined up for Cabinet posts are M Venkaiah Naidu, Gopinath Munde and BJP MP from Secunderabad, Bandaru Dattatreya. Swaraj may be picked up for External Affairs or Defence portfolio and Gadkari may get Surface Transport, Energy or a restructured Infrastructure Ministry.
The role of two BJP veterans lK Advani and MM Joshi in the new dispensation continued to be under intense speculation with no firm word coming on the issue.
Party treasurer Piush Goel is also considered as probable entrant to the Council of Ministers. Names of Deputy Speaker of the outgoing 15th lok Sabha and MP from Jharkhand Kariya Munda and Sumitra Mahajan, elected from Madhya Pradesh are also doing the rounds for the post of Speaker of lok Sabha. At one point of time party patriarch lK Advani’s name was sounded for the post of Speaker.
Former Army chief VK Singh, eight-time MP Maneka Gandhi, MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Aditya Nath, RS MP Kalraj Mishra, MP from Jhansi Uma Bharti — all from Uttar Pradesh — are also among the probable candidates for Cabinet berths.
Among the NDA allies Ramvilas Paswan, lJP and Apna Dal could find place in the Modi Government. Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju is likely to be the face from the TDP.
The list of Ministers of State is expected to be longish, with the younger lot like Smriti Irani rumoured to be one of them. Amidst hectic consultations in Gujarat Bhawan, Jaitley met senior RSS functionary Suresh Soni at the RSS head office here. Ahead of Government formation, NDA allies, including TDP in Andhra, PMK and DMDK in Tamil Nadu, Shiv Sena in Maharasthra Apna Dal in Uttar Pradesh, lJP in Bihar and others were jostling for Cabinet berths.
Shiromani Akali Dal has indicated that it may not be part of the Government with the indication coming from Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who said that SAD will not ask for any berth in the new NDA Cabinet. This is seen as a wait-and-watch tactic of the ruling party in Punjab to extract a bigger slice than given now by Modi.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu met Modi on Sunday at Gujarat Bhawan amid reports that Naidu is seeking Cabinet representation for his MPs in the meeting that lasted for over 30 minutes after which Chief Minister-designate of Andhra Pradesh left without talking to the media. Ananth Geethe could be inducted in the Cabinet to represent NDA ally Shiv Sena.