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Reshuffle may see balancing act and a bigger NDA tribe

By Vinod Kumar Shukla- 10 Jul 2023
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New Delhi (10.07.2023): Union Cabinet reshuffle is thick in the air but no one has the answer that when exactly it will happen? But it is certainly going to happen very soon at least activities of the top BJP leaders suggest so.
Many names are doing rounds from long as probable inductions while a little less number of names as probable drop outs.
The top two leaders of the BJP on last Thursday had a marathon meeting at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg obviously to deliberate upon names and BJP president J P Nadda, Organising Secretary B L Santosh and Amit Shah too sat together separately.

LS Polls 2024, Key To Reshuffle?
The 2024 Lok Sabha polls are considered key to the supposed reshuffle. So to begin with the biggest state in terms of electorate i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad MP Gen VK Singh and Chandauli MP Mahendra Nath Pandey are most likely to be dropped. Cabinet minister G Kishen Reddy has already been moved to Telangana as state BJP chief ahead of Assembly elections so he will certainly be dropped and replaced by someone from Telangana.

Likely Dropouts:
If sources are to be believed, Gujarat is likely to have maximum casualty as health minister Mansukh L Mandaviya and another cabinet minister Parshottam Rupala may either both be dropped or anyone of them as there are seven ministers from Gujarat. From Rajasthan, Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat may get the axe for various reasons.

Two big names that are also likely to be dropped included Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan. Goyal is out of the good books of the top leadership of the BJP for various reasons while Pradhan is being groomed for being made the next BJP president, so more and more organizational responsibilities are being passed onto him. Project Odisha will be accomplished with him being at the helm.

Prahalad Singh Patel may also be dropped as he is likely to be appointed as Madhya Pradesh BJP chief.  Anurag Thakur is likely to get a lease of life after managing the wrestlers' issue very skillfully but he might lose one of the two important portfolios that he has.  

Name of Ajay Kumar ‘Teni’ is also doing rounds to be dropped but this is unlikely to happen considering his clout in his own region where he got all the seats won for the BJP in last Assembly elections despite controversy surrounding him, so dropping him may cause more resentment in already angry Brahmin voters.

Focus Areas and Likely Inclusions:
Bihar, Karnataka, Telangana, North East, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra will be the focus areas in the reshuffle. RCP Singh who was minister under JD (U) quota is now in BJP and may get berth to counter Nitish Kumar for belonging to the same caste what Nitish belongs to, a Lingayat leader from Karnataka most likely B S Yediyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra may prove to be lucky this time round. To woo farmers, former Kishan Morcha chief Virendra Singh ‘Mast’, Balia MP, may be inducted in the council of ministers, Basti MP Harish Dwivedi who’s graph in the party is growing steadily may have the chance to get a ministerial berth.

Former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad may stage a comeback and in case two ministers are dropped from Gujarat C R Patil may have the chance to make it to the ministry.

Balancing Act and Bigger considerations:
In its effort to garner Dalit votes in Bihar, the BJP is working on to unite both the factions of Lok Janshakti Party and Chirag Paswan may be inducted in the council of ministers. Bitterness between the Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP is getting over with farmer’s bill withdrawn and continuous electoral drubbing of SAD in Punjab, so Harsimrat Kaur Badal may again join the Modi government.

Some ice has broken between Telugu Desam Party and the BJP, so it is likely that TDP chief’s son Nara Lokesh may also get a berth in the Union Council of ministers. But he has a very tenuous chance.

Bigger Alliance:
The BJP is in the mode of expansion of NDA and trying to win more alliance partners, so there might be one or two surprising faces that the incumbent government is famous for. Till the reshuffle happens, the guess work will continue.

(Vinod Kumar Shukla)

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