Hopes of the State BJP leaders for getting a berth in the Union Cabinet brightened after the Central BJP leadership accommodated an Uttarakhand representative in the party organisation at national level.
Besides, there is another reason behind the State BJP leaders nurturing such a hope. They are of the view that since the BJP managed to win all the five lok Sabha seats from the state with thumping margins in lok Sabha elections held this summer, the party can hardly ignore the aspiration of the people to have representation in the Union Cabinet.
It may be recalled that soon after the new Government at the Centre was formed the senior state BJP leaders took up the issue with the party’s central leadership and they claimed the response was ‘positive’.
As Uttarakhand’s hope for a Cabinet berth is being kept alive, two party MPs, BC Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, becoming chairmen of two different parliamentary committees seem to have brightened prospects for Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the party MP from Nainital- Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency and MP from Tehari, Mala Rajya laskshami Shah.
There has been no Cabinet reshuffle since May this year. Therefore, the party leaders here are of the view that their wishes would be accommodated when the party would go for the next Cabinet expansion.
Speculations go round that since senior party leader Ajay Tamta is a first time MP-elected from Almora-Pithoragarh lok Sabha seat-chances of Mala Rajya lakshmi Shah who is representing Tehari for two consecutive terms in the lok Sabha and Bhagat Singh Koshyari, party’s MP from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency are bright.
Notably, BJP’s victory from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat, hitherto deemed a Congress redoubt, is no less significant than the clean sweep the party managed in the lok Sabha election in the State.