Two days ahead of his election as leader of BJP’s parliamentary party and thereafter as the Prime Minister of the country on a designated day, Narendra Modi on Sunday held a series of discussions with his party colleagues, including lK Advani, to streamline the process of Government formation at the Centre.
Modi, who reached national Capital on Saturday and attended a Parliamentary Board meeting on Sunday, drove to Advani’s residence for a nearly 40-minute meeting after holding discussions with his key aide Amit Shah, JP Nadda, both BJP general secretaries, former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, and party’s Bihar in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan at Gujarat Bhavan where he stayed overnight.
The meeting with Advani was apparently to signal that the 86-year-old leader is being kept abreast of important decisions. Party general secretary Ananth Kumar also visited Advani’s residence before Modi’s arrival.
According to sources, while the process of Cabinet formation has picked up steam, “a final word is yet to be spoken on the issue by the party”. “The party” here is a euphemism for the Prime Minister-designate. They refused to comment on the speculation about portfolios for party heavyweights, including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Murli Manohar Joshi, and M Venkaiah Naidu.However, the momentum to delineate the profile of the next Government continued with party leaders and pre-poll allies meeting Modi during the day.
Meanwhile, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, heading the Ruling Naga People’s Front, a pre-poll ally of the BJP in this election, and won the lone parliamentary seat in the State, met Modi at Gujarat Bhavan. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and lJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag, also a pre-poll ally of the BJP, also met the would-be Prime Minister.
While on one hand, a set of senior BJP leaders interacted with the Prime Minister-in-waiting, some of the party
top functionaries, including Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu, Kalraj Mishra, Harsh Vardhan and several others visited the RSS headquarters at Keshav Kunj for “talks”.
“I have come to meet seniors. The RSS never gets into things like Cabinet formation,” said Naidu talking to reporters after meeting RSS leaders.Harsh Vardhan said that the BJP leaders keep visiting the RSS office from time to time and downplayed the queries that the visits were linked to Cabinet formation exercise. Shah, who has emerged as a key player in the Modi’s scheme of things at the Centre, had spent nearly two hours at Keshav Kunj on Saturday. Shah on Sunday had a meeting with Modi at Gujarat Bhavan.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former BJP president and MP from Kanpur Murli Manohar Joshi, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and MP from Jhansi Uma Bharti, Yeddyurappa, elected MP from Shimoga, and Rajya Sabha member Smriti Irani, who lost lok Sabha poll against Congress candidate Rahul Gandhi, also visited the RSS headquarters.
Modi will be formally elected as the leader of the BJP parliamentary party at its meeting on May 20, ahead of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) staking claim to form a Government at the Centre and taking oath as the Prime Minister.Meanwhile, the Prime Minister-designate on Sunday assured Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa of “absolute co-operation”. Modi spoke to Jayalalithaa over phone and thanked her for the letter congratulating him for his party’s ‘magnificent win’ in the lok Sabha elections.
“Selvi (Ms) J Jayalalithaa, wished him a very successful tenure as Prime Minister of India. The Hon’ble Prime Minister-designate assured the Hon’ble Chief Minister that there will be absolute co-operation between the Government of India and the Government of Tamil Nadu,” a State Government release said.