New Delhi: A press communique issued from the President's office on Tuesday confirmed what was speculated in Delhi's political circles for the last few days - the imminent expansion of the council of ministers. The list of eight new governors also included the name of Thawar Chand Gehlot as the new governor of Karnataka, a sitting Union minister and leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, a powerful post held by Arun Jaitley during the first term of Prime Minister Modi. The appointment of Gehlot as the new Karnataka governor confirmed the much anticipated Cabinet reshuffle that was delayed due to the assembly elections in five states and the second Covid wave that ravaged the country in April-May.
According to reports, new ministers are likely to be sworn in on Wednesday afternoon. The weekly meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was to take place today morning, has been cancelled.
“CCEA and Cabinet meetings that were scheduled today i.e. on July 7 have been cancelled,” an official in the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Wednesday morning.
In Delhi's power corridors, certain names were doing the rounds, which will be accommodated in the first expansion of the Union cabinet in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term. Some of these leaders sacrificed chief ministerial berths at the instance of the party high command in New Delhi and they are likely to figure in the list of leaders who are likely to take oath on Wednesday.
Long list of contenders
The ruling BJP has a long list of contenders vying for some crucial portfolios in the expanded council of ministers. These include some former chief ministers, political heavyweights such as Narayan Rane and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who joined the BJP from rival parties. While Rane is a former chief minister of Maharashtra -- he has been with the Shiv Sena and the Congress, Jyotiraditya is a scion of Gwalior's erstwhile Royal Scindia family. Jyotiraditya and his father late Madhav Rao Scindia were union ministers in previous Congress governments.
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Among the former chief ministers, Sarbananda Sonowal, who was the chief minister of the first-ever BJP government in Assam, figures prominently. Assam is a politically crucial state in the north-eastern region and will continue to have an important role in consolidating the party's foothold in the region. After the BJP's successive victory in the assembly elections held in March-April this year, Sonowal vacated the post of chief minister in favour of Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had quit the Congress in 2015 to join the BJP before the 2016 state assembly polls. The former Congress leader is considered the architect of securing the first-ever victory for the saffron party in a north-eastern state.
Similarly, former Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat could also find a place in the council of ministers. Rawat vacated the post on Saturday in favour of Pushkar Singh Dhami, a relatively younger leader with just two terms as MLA from Khatima assembly seat in the state. According to sources, Modi held extensive meetings with home minister Amit Shah and BJP's organisation secretary BL Santosh over the last two days and personally reviewed the performance of individual ministers and hopefuls before finalising the names.
According to the buzz in political circles, leaders from four States – Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh – may dominate the list of new inductees.
Maharashtra
While Narayan Rane, a former chief minister of Maharashtra, is a strong contender as the BJP seeks to project a strong leader in the state to counter the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government, there are other hopefuls from the state as well. The names of Hina Gavit, Poonam Mahajan and Preetam Munde also figure prominently.
Madhya Pradesh
Jyotiraditya Scindia, a once Gandhi family loyalist and a close confidant of Rahul Gandhi, is tipped to be inducted in the Union cabinet. Scindia was the power minister during the second term of the UPA government. He quit the party in March last year after being sidelined by the combined power of two Congress stalwarts – then chief minister Kamal Nath and former chief minister Digvijay Singh. Scindia, with the backing of 22 Congress MLAs, helped the BJP to topple the Kamal Nath government and is now likely to get a crucial portfolio in the Modi government. The name of Rakesh Singh, Lok Sabha member from Jabalpur, is also doing the rounds as a strong contender from the state.
Uttar Pradesh
There are several hopefuls from India's most populous state that sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha. The state played a crucial role in the formation of two successive BJP governments at the Centre with a clear majority. The party leadership has to strike a balance before the crucial assembly election that is due next year. Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel is among the hopefuls as she was a minister during Modi's first tenure as the prime minister. In addition, the names of Varun Gandhi, Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Jafar Islam are also heard.
Uttarakhand
From Uttarakhand, the names of former chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni are making the buzz. While Rawat is a sitting Lok Sabha member from Garhwal Lok Sabha seat -- he vacated the chief minister's post at the instance of the party high command -- Baluni is considered close to the two bigwigs, Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The hill state is headed for an assembly election next year and the party high command wants to pacify all the factions for a repeat victory.
Bihar
The name of former deputy chief minister Sushil Modi is also doing the rounds in political circles. Sushil has some solid administrative experience and was instrumental in forging the early consensus for a nationwide common goods and service tax (GST) during the second term of the UPA government. The names of JD(U) leaders RCP Singh and Lallan Singh are also being heard. Though the JD(U) refused to accept a single cabinet berth offered to the party after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has confirmed that the party will join the Modi government.
Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan
The BJP swept all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital in the 2019 general election but not a single Lok Sabha member from Delhi has been inducted into the Union cabinet. According to the political buzz, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and Lok Sabha member from West Delhi Lok Sabha seat, might be considered for a ministerial berth. Similarly, the names of Meenakshi Lekhi, MP from New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, Brijendra Singh, a BJP Lok Sabha member from Hisar Lok Sabha constituency in Haryana are doing the rounds. From Rajasthan, Rahul Kaswan, a BJP Lok Sabha member from Churu, is among the hopefuls.
West Bengal and Odisha
The names of Nishith Pramanik, Shantanu Thakur and Jagannath Sarkar are doing the rounds from the state of West Bengal. While Pramanik is a BJP Lok Sabha member from Coochbehar constituency in West Bengal, Thakur is MP from Bangaon Lok Sabha seat and Sarkar is Lok Sabha MP from Ranaghat seat. All three leaders represent the seats reserved for the members of the SC community in West Bengal where the saffron party won five out of 10 seats reserved for the community in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. From Odisha, Ashwini Vaishnav, a BJP Rajya Sabha member is among the contenders who might make it to the council of ministers.
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In addition to these leaders, the names of Jamyang Namgyal Tsering, BJP's Lok Sabha member from Ladakh and the name of Pratap Simha, BJP's Lok Sabha member from Mysore Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka are also being heard. Simha is a former journalist and a two-time Lok Sabha member. He was the head of the BJP's youth wing in the state.
