A high-level meeting at BJP chief Amit Shah’s residence on Thursday, coupled with a chance comment at a separate event by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, triggered talk of an impending Cabinet reshuffle this weekend.
Union Ministers at Shah’s residence included Jaitley, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Jitender Singh and PP Chowdhary. BJP General Secretary Bhupender Yadav, Organisation Secretary Ram Lal and Gujarat BJP chief Jitubhai Vaghani were also present at the meeting, which, the party insisted, was only being held to discuss the upcoming Assembly elections in the western State.
At a separate function, Jaitley said he did not expect to continue holding additional charge of the Defence Ministry, a task assigned to the Finance Minister after Manohar Parrikar was sent to Goa as Chief Minister. “At least, I hope, not for very long,” he said, answering a question.
Simultaneously, a Cabinet reshuffle — long overdue after key ministers like M Venkaiah Naidu and Manohar Parrikar took up different assignments, and Anil Madhav Dave passed away — is likely to be delayed further if it is not done this weekend.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaving on a four-day trip to China on September 3 and the pitru paksha — a 14-day period commemorating one’s ancestors and considered far too inauspicious by the BJP to do anything new — beginning on September 6, the only available window expires on September 2, Saturday.
Further, Amit Shah is expected to be in Mathura and President Ram Nath Kovind is travelling to Andhra Pradesh on Friday.
That leaves a window on September 1, when everyone critical to the exercise is present in the Capital. What is expected in the reshuffle is the accommodation of two new allies — the JD(U) and the AIADMK — as well as the dispatch of a few ministers as Governors. Six Governor posts are vacant.
What could happenMoreover, additional load has to be divested from ministers holding dual charge.
Like Jaitley, who manages both Defence and Finance, Smriti Irani holds the charge of Textiles and Information and Broadcasting; Narendra Singh Tomar holds the additional charge of Urban Development besides his own Rural Development; and Harsh Vardhan manages Science and Technology as well as Environment.
Besides, there is also likely to be an exchange between the BJP organisation and the government with some ministers likely to move to the party and some partymen moving to the government.
The Gujarat missionHowever, the BJP’s official version was that the the meeting at the party chief’s residence was only focused towards “Mission-150” in the Gujarat polls. “No other topic was discussed. Detailed discussions were held on the Gujarat polls,” said Bhupendra Yadav after the meeting.
The party has set a target of winning 150 seats in the 182-member Assembly. In the last elections in 2012, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the State’s Chief Minister, the BJP had won 116 seats. In 2007 and 2002, two other polls it fought under Modi, the BJP won 117 and 127 seats respectively.
With Modi now the PM, the party must strive to win 150 seats, Shah had told party leaders in Gujarat earlier.
The State has witnessed a lot of development under Modi and it has to be continued, Bhupendra Yadav said. Gujarat has emerged as a saffron citadel with the BJP in power there since 1995 — except for over a year when rebel Shankersinh Vaghela split the party and formed a government with Congress’ support.