A rejig of the Narendra Modi Cabinet and the much-awaited organisational changes in the BJP are planned back-to-back. They could take place in the first week of the next month, with organisational changes preceding the Cabinet revamp. Both are expected to be ‘small ticket’ affairs.
Sources said that in the organisational changes the vacant posts of three general secretaries will be filled up. While revamping the organisation, the party is expected to take into account the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. It’s certain that most of the new general secretaries will be from the poll-bound States.
“It is not going to be a big shake-up in the party. There are some vacancies that will be filled up and some changes may take place. But don’t expect anything very major,” said a party leader.
Similarly, the Cabinet rejig also may not be a mega affair. The exercise will fill up vacancies and may carry out some changes in portfolios. Sources said that one or two new faces from UP could be inducted in the Cabinet, considering the upcoming Assembly elections.
“There is not going to be a mega shake-up at this stage. This could come about later, when a performance-based reshuffle will take place at the halfway mark of the Government four months from now,” said a leader, adding,” We already have 13 Ministers, including the Prime Minister from UP.”
New Ministers from Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttarakhand could also get representation in the Cabinet.
The Prime Minister last reshuffled his pack in November 2014 when he brought in Suresh Prabhu and Manohar Parrikar into the Cabinet.
With the BJP’s thrust on expansion of the party in the North-East, the Cabinet may also see induction of someone from the region in place of Sarbananda Sonowal, who was the Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister before he took over as Assam Chief Minister recently.
Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Vijay Sampla has been made the BJP’s Punjab unit president. He may have to make way for someone from the State.
Navjot Singh Sidhu from Punjab and Rameshwar Teli from Assam are tipped for a berth in the Cabinet. The representation from Uttarakhand may go to either Bhagat Singh Koshyari or Ajay Tamta. On the other hand, there are doubts over continuation of Sadanand Gowda as law Minister and Giriraj Singh as Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
There is also great deal of speculation about the fate of two 75-plus Cabinet Ministers Najma Heptulla and Kalraj Mishra. According to the benchmark set by the Prime Minister both may be required to be dropped.
The party is abuzz with rumours that Najma may be accommodated at some point as Governor. But dropping Mishra may not easy, as he is an influential Brahmin leader from UP, where the BJP faces a major challenges in wooing upper caste votes. Given the fact that Brahmins constitute nearly 13 per cent of UP’s population, the BJP may not be able to enforce the “age” benchmark in case of Mishra without calculating political consequences.