Governor Syed Ahmed on Wednesday held consultation with Chief Minister Raghubar Das on the appointment of Ranchi University Vice Chancellor and Pro-VCs of NPU, Daltonganj and SKMU, Dumka. According to sources, Das also discussed the long-pending issue of cabinet expansion and assured him to take a call on it on Thursday.
Earlier, the Search committee, constituted by the Governor to select the VC and Pro-VC, had submitted its recommendation to the Raj Bhawan shortlisting three persons for each post. The meeting was said to be not pre-planned and inputs coming in suggested that the CM has explained about the delay taking place in the exercise and developments made so far apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled Jharkhand visit to the Governor.
The CM drove to the Raj Bhawan at 5 pm and sat with the Governor for about one hour. “The Opposition parties have been regularly exerting pressure, organised protests and met the Governor on the Cabinet expansion issue. The CM must have explained the reason for the delay,” said an official in the Chief Minister Office.
It is believed that since all hurdles in the way of designating a full Cabinet has been cleared now Das would have gone on to present a clear picture about the issue before the head of the State. The BJP, looking to expand its tally into the House to the full majority mark managed the support of six JVM legislators after the faction decided to merge with the saffron party.
The Assembly Speaker has also given his nod to the merger that has taken the bench strength of the BJP up to 43 in the House of 81. It is believed considering the fluid post-poll scenario where the BJP fell short of majority of its own and was banking on the crucial support from the five-member AJSU, the party decided to pause a bit the expansion.
“It was done to ensure greater strength to the Government. Now, the task is over and the Government is gearing up to expand the Cabinet. Now, it is clear that the Cabinet expansion would take place sooner than later as the probable faces have been more or less identified,” said a senior BJP leader. Talking to The Pioneer, the CM had hinted to complete the task by February 20.
Speculations are that atleast two of six new entrants into the BJP would be designated with ministerial positions. Chances are least that alliance partner AJSU would get more berth and instead offered bards and corporations.