The Narendra Modi Government is a week old now and it is time for changes in the BJP too. If a new Party President is elected, then the entire team will be a new one. Many Vice-presidents, General Secretaries and even Treasurers have joined the Government. Though, the in-charges of those States where elections are schedule have not been included in the Government, reportedly, responsibilities will still be distributed afresh; particularly after leaders like Thawar Chand Gehlot, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ananth Kumar, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Radha Mohan Singh, who had important responsibilities, have become Ministers. Amit Shah may be roped in to take care of either the Delhi-Haryana or Maharashtra election. Rajiv Pratap Rudy is in charge of Maharashtra and he can be given some added responsibilities. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Varun Gandhi, who have not been included in the Government, can be given more tasks too. No prodigy of any leader has been included in the Government though he can be promoted in the organisation.
NO IMMEDIATE CABINET EXPANSION
leaders of the BJP and allied partners are speculating that Modi might expand his cabinet in a month or so, probably when the monsoon session starts. It will also be the Government’s first budget session. The leaders who couldn’t be Ministers, are consoled by being allotted a month’s time so that the issue doesn’t escalate.
But sources also say that there is no plan for cabinet expansion in the next one or two months. Only the Defence Minister can be accommodated. Modi has formed his cabinet after much deliberation and he will wait till it comes into rhythm. For this, he will give at least six months time to his Government. Reportedly, States where elections are scheduled in November-December, such as Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Jammu-Kashmir have been given sufficient representation. Only Jharkhand has left behind. Despite winning 12 seats, Jharkhand has got only one MOS. It is being said that before the elections only one more MP will be given space in the government.
CONGRESS IS STIll UPSET
After the devastating defeat in the lok Sabha elections, the Congress is entangled in the same state and not trying to move head. Milind Deora, the former MP of Mumbai and former Minister, was the first one to attack Rahul Gandhi and his advisors. After that, leaders are attacking one another. Among the advisors of Rahul, Digvijay Singh is on the hitlist. Kamal Nath and Satyavrat Chaturvedi both have supported Deora; though not directly, both reportedly are trying to lessen the stature of Singh. Madhusudan Mistry is the second name in the hitlist. Both Singh and he had become members of the Rajya Sabha even before the elections and probably this is another reason why there is much anger against them.
Mistry had been made Uttar Pradesh’s in-charge and a committee was set up in the State where tickets were distributed as per his wishes. But barring Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, nobody else has won. He himself went to fight against Modi from Vadodara and faced the worst defeat. Meenakshi Natarajan, who has lost election from Mandsaur, is another name in the hitlist.
MODI DENOUNCES TRADITIONS
Modi, while forming his cabinet, has not paid attention to old traditions and formulae. Some points were specially taken care of while forming the cabinet. For example, first time MPs were used to be made MOS, almost all the States were used to be given equal representation, castes and communities were to be taken care of and seniority of leaders was not to be ignored. But Modi has formed his cabinet by sidelining all these formulae.
He has made Nirmala Sitharaman MoS with independent charge. She has not become MP even once. It means that she has become a Minister before she could be an MP. One time MP Prakash Javadekar has also become MoS with independent charge and interestingly seven-time MP Santosh Gangwar has also been given equivalent post.
One time MP Smriti Irani has been made the HRD Minister. Radha Mohan Singh, who has not served as a Minister anywhere, too is given a cabinet. The caste formula has not been kept in mind. Out of 45 ministers, 20 are from forward castes and 13 are from OBC. Modi has made six Brahmins and five Rajput ministers. likewise, all the regions have not been given priority. From Bangalore, there are now two Ministers and one MOS from Rajasthan, despite 25 winning MPs.
PRIYANKA IN DEMAND
Now, there is clamour to put Priyanka Gandhi forward. Many leaders of the Congress want her in active politics and that she should be given some official responsibility. Some leaders want that Priyanka Gandhi should be handed over command of the party but some others opine that the command should be in Rahul’s hand and Priyanka should be in his team. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has maintained silence on the issue though it is speculated that Priyanka has already taken many responsibilities without any formal announcement.
Before elections, Priyanka had played a crucial role in ticket distribution and campaign strategy. Now, she has gone to the office which is at Rahul’s residence and has enquired about the minute details of the election results. Apparently, if Rahul makes changes in the organization, then the responsibility to choose the leaders will be on Priyanka.
WHAT WIll KUMAR VISHWAS DOIJ
After Shazia Ilmi, is Kumar Vishwas planning to quit the AAP tooIJ Kumar had fought against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi but got only 25000 votes. While campaigning, he had made remarks against Smriti. That is why it is said that if Vishwas tries to join the BJP then he would face a lot of problems even though he has direct contact with Modi and it has been publicly accepted by Modi himself. Some of his close aides claim that he will fight the next assembly elections on a BJP ticket. The same is being said about Shazia.
WHO WIll FIGHT FROM MAINPURIIJ
Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh is in great dilemma. He has won from Mainpuri and Azamgarh but has to leave either of them. He had faced a tough fight against the BJP’s Ramakant Yadav in Azamgarh and won a difficult battle. Seeing all this it can’t be said that he would leave his Azamgarh seat. So, in all probability he will leave his Mainpuri seat. But, who will fight from there; this has become bigger question for Mulayam. In fact the BJP, who has won 73 seats in the State, will try to win this seat also. This will be the first test of the Modi Government.
Earlier, it was speculated that Mulayam could field his son Prateek from this seat. It was also being said that he had fought from two seats to secure the future of his second son only. But, now it is said that there is pressure to field a Muslim candidate from Mainpuri. The SP has got five seats and on each of them, Mulayam’s family member has won. Not a single Muslim has won from the SP. So, even symbolically it is necessary for Mulayam to put forth a Muslim candidate.