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With the assembly elections just six months away, Uttar Pradesh is expected to get a lion’s share in the expansion of the Narendra Modi ministry at the Centre to set the caste equation right.
The expansion of the Union cabinet is expected on July 8.
UP already has a maximum of 11 ministers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani, yet more names are likely to be added to the list.
A senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party told this reporter in Lucknow that caste and region are set to play a crucial role in deciding who will get the ministerial berth.
“There are some regions which need representation in the cabinet and people of particular castes too have shown their craving for ministerial berths. The expansion is likely to placate the disgruntled voices,” he said and added that some of the challenges the government and party faces are from the Most Backward Classes, Brahmin and Dalits.
In the last four-and-a-half-year rule of the Yogi Adityanath, a message has gone down that this government is anti-Brahmin and has also ignored the Backwards. The Dalits are up in arms against the government in Azamgarh where opposition parties like Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party have thrown their weight behind Dalits.
Apna Dal president and MP from Mirzapur, Anupriya Patel, has a good chance of being included in the ministry as she represents the strong Kurmi community. Around a fortnight back, she had a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah which has raised the possibility of her being brought back in the cabinet. She was in the Modi cabinet in his first tenure but was dropped from the council of ministers in the second essay.
Sources in the BJP said her inclusion in the ministry could influence the large Kurmi vote base -- the second most influential backward caste after Yadavs. Kurmis have been loyal to BJP since 2014.
Brahmin discontent is also a major issue for the BJP in UP at present and in this cabinet expansion, a senior Brahmin MP is likely to be included in the council of ministers. Two Brahmin faces from UP, including Allahabad MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Kanpur MP Satya Dev Pachauri, are in the race.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi has her father Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna's legacy, a big name in UP that can be used in Uttarakhand political context as well. On the other hand, Pachauri from Kanpur Nagar can be used to influence the Brahmin voters in the crucial belt of central UP. It is here gangster Vikas Dubey’s encounter and subsequent arrest of his family members has become a big issue for the Brahmins.
The other main issue would be of western UP, where the farmers and Jats are annoyed with the present Central government as well as the state regime. Though Sanjeev Balyan, a Jat leader, is a minister, still another leader of the community like Satpal Singh, MP from Baghpat, can be a possible choice.
Surprisingly, there is no Dalit minister from UP in the Union ministry hence there is a possibility of a Scheduled Caste MP getting a berth in the ministry. Non-Jatav Dalits, especially Pasi, have been a big support for BJP in 2014, 2017 and 2019 elections. Big Dalit faces from UP are Ramashanker Katheria (Etawah), Rajkumar Chahal (Fatehpur Sikri) , Kaushal Kishore (Mohanlalganj).