BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the NDA parliamentary party meeting at Samvidhan Sadan. Photo | PTI
The ‘guess who will be the cabinet minister’ game is on as PM Modi is all set to head his first coalition government. The swearing-in ceremony of the NDA government is scheduled for Sunday.
The biggest questions centre around the top portfolios, all of which are expected to be retained by the BJP. These include Home, Finance, Defence, External Affairs, Road Transport, Railways, IT and Education.
The top alliance partners might not have some of their big demands met, despite speculations to the contrary. The JD(U) has asked for Railways and is persistently pressing on it. The TDP has asked for Information Technology, which it is likely to not get.
JD(U) and TDP are however expected to get the same number of ministerial berths, according to well-placed sources. This despite the TDP (16) winning more Lok Sabha seats than JD(U) 12.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had stressed on Saturday that he will be taking the final call on ministries.
There is no indication yet on how many ministers will be sworn in, though it is expected to be at least a 30-member strong cabinet.
Many BJP leaders were said to be pacifying the gods in a bid to land positions in the new cabinet. The BJP is also reportedly considering dropping several ministers of Modi government’s second term.
The jettisoned ones may include those ministers who were defeated in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
About 19 ministers of Modi’s second term have lost the elections with big margin of votes. Prominent among them are Smriti Irani, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, RK Singh and Arjun Munda, all cabinet ministers.
Sources say the BJP leadership is poised to introduce new faces in place of those who faced electoral setbacks or won with narrow margins.
Four ministers are reportedly facing such an action. They could be Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda and RK Singh. They may be accommodated in the Rajya Sabha as they were vocal on the government policies and handled their ministries well.
“By bringing in new faces, the party aims to inject dynamism into key ministerial portfolios, ensuring effective governance and delivery of promises made to the electorate”, said a close aide of one of the defeated ministers. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, pitted against Congress’ Shashi Tharoor lost the election from Thiruvanathapuram by a margin of 16,077 votes while Smriti Irani lost the election with a margin of over 1.67 lakh votes and Arjun Munda lost with a margin of over 1.49 lakh votes.
Sources suggested that the BJP leadership was disinclined to induct MPs with slender victory margins as ministers in the cabinet. The forthcoming cabinet is said to be a balanced one reflecting regional representation, caste dynamics, and administrative competence.
It is also said changes were in the offing in some key ministries of “BJP quota.” One such instance is likely to be the ministry of finance and the ministry of commerce and industry.
The tribal affairs ministry is likely to go with an NDA ally while the ministry of power may go with TDP or JDU.
“If the railway ministry remains with BJP, one of the two MoS posts could go either to the JD(U) or TDP or Shiv Sena Shinde faction,” said a source.
