Uttarakhand has pushed for representation in the Union Cabinet expansion which is on the cards after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bhutan.
The Himalayan State which was quite disappointed after having found no place in the Modi Government at the Centre on May 26, has reasons to smile this time now.
There are many reasons why the state BJP's case becomes stronger in regard to seeking Cabinet berth. It is to note that the BJP got maximum vote percentage in Uttarakhand i.e. about 56 per cent after Gujarat in the recently concluded lok Sabha elections. Besides, it managed to win all the five seats here with huge margin. Yet there is no representation in the Cabinet, said party activists here.
It may be recalled that senior leaders of the state BJP had soon after the swearing-in ceremony of May 26 raised their concern in this regard with the Central leadership of the party and got away with getting some assurances in this regard.
Among the five lok Sabha MPs from the state, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, BJP's MP from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency, is one of the frontrunners to get a Cabinet berth in the Union council of ministers.
When asked if there is a possibility of getting representation in the Union council of ministers in the upcoming reshuffle, Koshyari maintained that there may be such possibility, while talking to The Pioneer.
We can only hope that there should be some representation from Uttarakhand too. Now it is upto the party and the Prime Minister to decide. Much cannot be said at this juncture, he added.
It is worth mention here that apart from making a clean sweep in the lok Sabha polls held in the state with huge margin and getting bigger vote percentage, there is one more element in the victory of the BJP in the lok Sabha elections in Uttarakhand.
The BJP's victory in the Congress stronghold Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar which is a heavily polarised seat as far as electoral politics is concerned, has changed the course of Terai politics in the long run.
The fact of the matter is that to dislodge the Congress party in its pocket borough Nainital- Udham Singh Nagar parliamentary constituency and that too with a record margin of about 283792 votes, has always been an uphill task for its opponents i.e. mainly the BJP with caste-based politics playing a crucial role here.
It is worth mention here that the Congress party has been able to better utilise the caste-based politics in this seat, occupying this lok Sabha seat for maximum
period since 1951. However, the BJP has been able to register its victory in this seat only on two occasions, in 1991 and 1998, and the Janta Party in 1977.
So there is a strong demand from the party's rank and file here that Koshiyari who has registered a historic win for the party in Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar seat must be given representation in the Union Council of Minister in the upcoming reshuffle .