Uddhav Thackeray, other CMs not invited to Ayodhya

No Governors invited either

VHP blasts Shiv Sena & Uddhav

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

New Delhi, July 27

Setting all speculations at rest about Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray attending the Ram Temple Foundation Stone laying Ceremony to be held on August 5, it is disclosed that he has not been invited to the function.

It has also been confirmed that not only Uddhav Thackeray but no other Chief Minister across the country has been invited to attend the historic function.

This was disclosed Working President of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Alok Kumar in an exclusive conversation today.

He told Lokmat over the telephone this morning that “the VHP is deeply hurt by the statement of Uddhav Thackeray ji for his suggestion that foundation ceremony be held through Video Conferencing”.

However, the decision not to invite him for the ceremony is not linked to his statement issued last night. It was a policy decision that no Chief Minister be invited for the ceremony in view of the Covid pandemic.

When asked whether an exception be made, Alok Kumar disclosed that UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will certainly attend the ceremony. He also signaled that a few exceptions could be made if needed. In response to another question, Alok Kumar also disclosed, “No Governor has been invited to the function either.”

Interestingly, the BJP has 12 Chief Ministers of its own and sharing power in 6 other states with allies. But none has been invited. The public statement by Alok Kumar puts an end to uncertainty about Uddhav Thackeray traveling to Ayodhya to attend the ceremony on August 5.

Meanwhile, Alok Kumar said, “Uddhav ji’s statement only shows his blind opposition and we do mourn such a fall of what once was a Hindutava Party led by the legendary Shri Bala Sahab Thackeray.”

“Bhumi Pujan is an essential and sacred ritual.. we worship the Mother Earth, seek Her permission to dig…….this cannot be done by e-conference.”

“The VHP has always made it clear that the Bhumi Pujan will be done by restricting participation to 200 persons and in this situation, the concern about public health expressed by Shri Thackeray are only false pretensions”, he added.

10,000 Vaccine Warriors needed, As trials for Corona drug begin

Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

New Delhi, July 22

After the Corona Warriors, India will need an army of “Vaccine Warriors” now. According to Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) and Union Health ministry estimates, the country will require at least 10000 “Vaccine Warriors”. The number may go up as more and more companies may start trials for the most-sought vaccine in the human history.

The response of people is tremendous in Delhi as AIIMS is flooded with requests for inclusion. More than 2000 applied while 375 needed

These warriors will undergo crucial trials being conducted by seven pharma companies during the next one year.

In Delhi’s AIIMS, the trial will begin tomorrow while in Goa the human trials began at the State’s Redkar Hospital today. In all, these trials are to be conducted at 12 locations across the country and 600 warriors will be administered first dose of Covaxin jointly produced by Bharat Biotech & ICMR. Then the same number will undergo for heavy doses and then the second phase will begin when 375 Vaccine Warriors will be needed.

These are called warriors as undergoing clinical trial is equally risky for the health and well being of the person.

The Prime Minister is personally monitoring the progress of these trials and talked to the Principal Scientific Adviser and co-chairman of the Task Force on Vaccine to get an update. The Task Force has Dr V K Paul, member NITI Aayog as its co-chair besides members of DRDO, Aayush, ICMR, DG Health Services.

The DCGI has permitted two vaccines -- one developed by the Bharat Biotech and another one by ZydusCadila Healthcare Ltd to conduct trials. At least five other companies including Panacea Biotec, Mynvax and Biological E are there. In addition, Serum Institute is on the verge of launching the Oxford vaccine as it is at phase III of the trials.

The Bharat Biotech’s vaccine trials over 1200 persons at 12 locations in India begins now. These sources say say one company would require around 1800-2000 such warriors during the next six months to one year.

Dr V G Somani, DCGI’s office declined to comment at this stage as to how many companies have been permitted for trials. Sources, however, said trials for the two more companies are set to begin soon.

Vacancy galore in CIC, RTI appeals piling up, PMO cool

Harish Gupta
New Delhi, July 19

The NaMo administration seems to be in no hurry to fill the vacancies in the Central Information Commission, a watch dog body implementing the key  weapon in the hands of the citizens.

While the four vacancies of Information Commissioners already exist in the , two more are falling vacant. Chief Information Commissioner Vimal Julka (Retd IAS) is completing his tenure this month whereas Member Divya Prakash Sinha (Retd IPS) will be completing his term in the month of September. The CIC is an autonomous 11-member body and with six post vacant the pendency will go up further.

The Opposition parties are already making an allegation that NaMo administration is not keen for transparency in governance and weakening the institutions.

Similarly, there is a vacancies galore in other tribunals and boards and corporations. But when it comes to filling vacancy in the Vigilance Commission of a Commissioner, the government is moving with alacrity.

The Ministry of Personnel has issued a pro forma for the application for the post of VC that asks the applicants to “indicate your suitability assessments for the post (in not more than 300 words)” among others. One post of VC will fall vacant in October this year. But vacancy has already advertised. It may be mentioned that Chief Vigilance Commissioner is Sanjay Kothari who was till the other day was Secretary to the President. Sharad Kumar and Suresh N Patel are two Vigilance Commissioners.

Kumar is due to complete his term in October this year and the vacancy will be filled by appointing a new VC, said the Personnel Ministry order. The Vigilance Commissioner shall hold office for a term of four years or until the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. But despite a vacancy galore in the CIC, there is no move to fill the vacancies. Then there are vacancies in the NCLAT where the chairman has just been given an extension of three months as search for a successor has not begun as yet.

Sachin Pilot to join the BJP - His Mother Rama Pilot had clinched the deal

Harish Gupta ( National Editor, Lokmat Group)
New Delhi, July 14

Sacked Rajsthan Deputy Chief Minister and PCC president Sachin Pilot may finally join the BJP. Though he had been maintain a studied silence for several days, his tweet today gave a clue when he thanked his supporters for their “ gratitude to all those who have come out in my support today.” He ended the short tweet with “राम राम सा !” The word of Ram Ram Sa is commonly used in local parlance in Rajasthan. But gives a clue to what is going on behind the scenes.

Highly placed sources in the BJP told Lokmat that the script of the Rajasthan drama was written in February itself when Rama Pilot, mother of Sachin Pilot met BJP’s newly elected president, J P Nadda. She met Nadda through an intermediary and clearly told him that if the BJP was willing to make her son the Chief Minister, he may jump the ship.

Rama Pilot was extremely furious with Congress president Sonia Gandhi for denying the CM’s post to Sachin who had worked tirelessly for five year as PCC Chief which had brought the Congress back to power. Though Sonia Gandhi tried to assuage her by saying that Sachin will continue to hold the dual post of PCC Chief and Dy CM. But no commitment was made in this regard.

The offer was tempting for the BJP which had lost power in Rajasthan as Pilot had stitched a Meena-Gujjar alliance which caused BJP’s humiliating defeat in Eastern Rajasthan. The BJP lost 42 out of the 49 seats there. 

But the offer had its own pitfalls for the BJP and Nadda needed time to discuss in his own party. He had just taken over on January 20 as party Chief. A series of discussions were held within the Central unit and the matter went right up to the Prime Minister. It was decided that the opinion of the senior functionaries of the RSS be obtained. During all this, time was lost and lockdown was imposed on March 24 bringing all political activity to a grinding halt.

The BJP got into act when Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s Special Operation Group (SOG) issued a notice to Sachin Pilot to appear before him for attempting to bribe the NLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls.

A series of raids by Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate allegedly involving Gehlot’s businessman son and others at ten locations. Now the fight is not between Sachin Pilot and Gehlot. Its BJP Establishment and Gehlot-Gandhi duo.

Clamour for Rahul’s return as Congress president - AK Antony joins the chorus

Harish Gupta (National Editor, Lokmat Group)
New Delhi, July 11

In a surprise development, senior-most Congress leader A K Antony today joined the chorus to make Rahul Gandhi as party president again.

At a specially convened meeting of the party MPs this morning by “Interim” Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the family’s trusted loyalist surprised MPs when he vociferously urged that its time for Rahul Gandhi to take the reins of the party again.

They included Kerala MPs Kodikunnil Suresh (Kerala), Manickam Tagore (Tamil Nadu), Gaurav Gogoi, and Abdul Khaleque (Assam), Mohammad Jawed (Bihar) and Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka (Odisha) strongly pitched for Rahul’s return.

Rahul Gandhi, who represents Wayanad in Kerala and was present at the meeting. But this time, he did not react at all to this renewed demand contrary to earlier occasions. On all previous occasions Rahul Gandhi used to brush these demands aside. But this time, he looked the other way and did not speak a word on the issue.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other leaders had made similar demands for Rahul Gandhi's return to the post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting last month.

Rahul Gandhi had abruptly resigned as party chief after Congress debacle in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Sonia Gandhi was elected as interim chief on August 10 last year.

The CWC is expected to meet soon and may formally bring a resolution in this regard, sources say.

PMO’s sermon to Ministers & leaders, No Anti-China rhetoric, for now

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

• No Anti-China rhetoric, for now
• No Lowering of Guards either

New Delhi, July 10
Without lowering the guards on the LAC in Galwan and other areas, the government has signaled the anti-China rhetoric be kept at low pitch.

The Prime Minister’s Office has signaled to the ministers and the BJP functionaries nothing should be spoken or hinted even remotely in public until Pre-May status quo in restored in Ladakh.

The frontal organizations and trade bodies closely connected with the saffron party have been conveyed to restrain in their anti-China rhetoric.

In fact, no government minister including members of the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) has uttered a word since disengagement announcement on July 7. The Modi government is closely watching how fast the Chinese move back to their original positions and holding its horses till then.

The Chinese foreign Minister Wang Li had added an interesting line in his July 7 statement while smoking the peace pipe. He said, “We hope India can work with China to guide public opinion in the right direction……. avoid amplifying the differences and complicating matter so as to jointly uphold the big picture of Indo-China relations.”

Obviously, the Chinese want India to guide its public opinion and stop strong anti-China rhetoric and recall all anti-China steps taken by any departments, states and companies to restore full normalcy.

The boycott Chinese goods call has suddenly gone silent. It is authoritatively learnt that a workable formula is being evolved with the promoters of some of the 59 Chinese Apps to restore status quo ante.

It is in this context that the Tik Tok’s owner ByteDance company is even considering moving its headquarters out of China along with the video-conferencing operations. It means India’s security concerns will be addressed in terms of data safety as servers will be moved to India too. It has two servers already in India.

Authoritative sources in the government say that except for the 59 App ban, there has not been any strong action initiated against any of the Chinese companies by any of the ministries and departments. Even cancellation of contracts here and there by any agency was on technical ground and not because of their place of Chinese origin.

How Modi used UPA era Act to control Covid-19 - Fly on the wall

Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

How Modi used UPA era Act to control Covid

The Congress has been strongly criticizing Prime Minister Modi for usurping the powers of states while dealing with Covid epidemic/pandemic. But it conveniently forgot that the Disaster Management Act (DMA) under which Modi did it was enacted during the UPA regime in 2005. Modi as Gujrat Chief Minister had vehemently opposed the proposed Bill and alleged that the UPA wants to swallow powers of the states. But he was the lone voice in his own party as the Central BJP leadership looked the other way. When the Coronavirus broke out in 2020, Modi invoked the same 2005 Act to declare it a as national epidemic and took complete charge under the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The NDMA is directly under the Prime Minister who is its chairman. Shockingly, Section 6 & Section 10 of the DMA, 2005 give enormous powers to the PMO which some experts considered harsher than provided for in the Article 356.

Why Amit Shah came on the scene late

Suddenly, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is in the fore-front of fighting the battle against Covid. But It’s a wrong popular notion that Home ministry is nodal agency to handle the Corona pandemic. But its not. The Act clearly says the MHA is responsible for response, relief and preparedness for natural calamities and man-made disasters. But not ‘drought and epidemics’ which is under NDMA with PM as Chairman. The NDMA website reveals that Amit Shah is not even a member of the NDMA. Though the NDMA should to be 9-member body with a Vice Chairman. But currently, it has five members; G V V Sarma, Kamal Kishore, Lt. Gen. Syed Ata Hasnain (retd), Rajendra Singh, and Kishore Vatsa and no Deputy Chairman. The Union Home Secretary is Chairman of the National Executive Committee (NEC) under the NDMA. But its a dual role. He issues orders to ministries and states not as Home Secretary but as Chairman of the NEC on the direct orders of the PMO.

Priyanka Gandhi’s House riddle

After being told to vacate the 35 Lodhi Estate bungalow, the last word on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s next destination continues to baffle political class. The widely reported speculation is that she will shift to Lucknow in late Shiela Kaul's house to strengthen the party in UP. It is said she is unwilling to shift to Lucknow immediately due to on-going Covid-19 pandemic and UP emerging as a new hot spot. Secondly, she doesn’t want to take the risk of traveling to UP along with the family now. She will not go to her husband Robert Vadra’s palatial flats in Gurgaon. Reason; Robert Vadra loves to walk in the Lodhi Gardens in the morning and Priyanka in the evening. Vadra keeps tweeting photos while walking in the Lodhi Gardens. Insiders say that she may temporarily shift to 10 Janpath House of her mother with daughter Miraya.Robert can keep shuffling between Gurgaon and Delhi.

Rohan Jaitley for DDCA ?

Late Arun Jaitley’s son advocate Rohan is in the news these days. Jaitley’s friends and associates want him to become DDCA president, a post once held by Jaitley himself. Elections are due after Rajat Sharma resigned. The last word is yet to be known.

Nadda set to reshuffle BJP team

Harish Gupta ( National Editor, Lokmat Group)

New Delhi, July 7

• 25 Morchas, Departments may be over-hauled
• New General secretaries too
• Cabinet reshuffle later

BJP president J P Nadda will have a new team anytime, before July 15-16. The Cabinet reshuffle may follow later.

Highly placed sources say Nadda will have some “new faces” as vice president, general secretaries and heads of 25 Morchas and Departments. Nadda’s focus will be giving new direction to these departments and Morchas.

Of the eight general secretaries at least two may be replaced including Dr Anil Jain. Another general secretary incharge of Maharashtra, Saroj Pandey may be inducted into the Union Council of Ministers. Manoj Sinha, a former Railway Minister of State, may be brought in as new general secretary.

Bhupendra Yadav and Kailash Vijayvargiya over-seeing two poll bound states of Bihar and West Bengal respectively will be retained. The Yuva Morcha chief, Poonam Mahajan may be replaced by another young face. Tejswasi Surya, a Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka, is in the reckoning. Vijay Rahatkar, Mahila Morcha Chief may also be entrusted with new responsibility.

Similarly, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister may be replaced by Raghubar Dass of Jharkhand as Vice president. There are 10 vice presidents and a couple of them may be accommodated elsewhere. 

Nadda’s main strength is the new general secretary (org) B L Santosh who replaced Ram Lal. Santosh reminds days of late Sunder Singh Bhandari who was a tough task master and comes from the RSS.

The changes were finalized after the high-level meeting that took place last Saturday at the Prime Minister’s residence where top RSS and BJP leaders were present. 

It is clear that the Foreign Affairs Department will be strengthened and taken to a new high as PM Modi wants BJP to play a major role in this arena. A full fledged high-tech foreign affairs department will be strengthened under Vijay Chauthaiwale who hails from Maharashtra.

Nadda has a difficult task to fill the vacancies in parliamentary board arising out of the tragic demise of Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Anant Kumar.

Fast-tracking Covid vaccine to cut red tape, safety norms in place: ICMR clarifies on Aug 15 deadline

Company hopeful; Vaccine may be launched after Phase-I, II trials

Harish Gupta ( National Editor, Lokmat Group)
New Delhi, July 4

The cat is out of the bag as to why the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) set  August 15 date for developing and launch  a coronavirus vaccine.

It transpires that the developer of the most-sought vaccine in the world, Bharat Biotech company of Hyderabad, may be allowed to launch the vaccine immediately after the successful Phase-I and Phase-II trials without waiting for  four phases of trials which takes  minimum six months to one year. But in the instant case, the government and ICMR, may short-circuit the process.

A clue was given by none other but the Chairman and managing director of the Bharat Biotech company, Dr Krishna Ella himself.

When he was asked, “Is there anything that the government can do make sure that Covaxin can come into the market faster?” Dr Krishna Ella couldn’t resist his temptation.

Dr Krishna Ella told aa business daily on June 30, “ That is a decision for the government to take. If phase I & II data is good, it is up to the government and regulators. Our job is to execute the project and show the results.”

It is clear that the vaccine can be launched after the phase-I and Phase-II trials if the regulators and government so permits.

Interestingly, the regulator (ICMR)  itself is a partner in the Covaxin with Bharat Biotech and Institute of Virology in Pune is also a partner which is owned by the government itself.

The ICMR which was playing coy since yesterday on the issue. Asserted today“the letter by DG-ICMR (Dr Balram Bhargava) to investigators of the clinical trial sites was meant to cut unnecessary red tape, without bypassing any necessary process, and speed up recruitment of participants."

“The process of Vaccine development “is exactly in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel."

Dr  Bhargava had sent out letters to 12 top clinical research agency  "envisaged" launching a novel coronavirus vaccine by Independence Day. The Union Health Ministry refused to comment and no government authority was willing to join the issue as it created a furore among experts and political class.

Major shake up in Prasar Bharati in offing

Harish Gupta ( National Editor, Lokmat Group)

New Delhi, July 3

For the first time after its creation 23 years of its existence,  the Modi government has decided to set up a separate Recruitment Board for the public broadcaster.

A beginning was made on July 1 when Jagdish Upasane, senior journalist was appointed as its chairman.

The 5-member recruitment board for will recruit persons for the various TV channels, Radio division and other institutions under it. Upasane will have a scale of pay less than that of a Joint Secretary to the government of India.

A former journalist and Director Bharat Prakashan Jagdish Upasane has been named as the chairperson of the recruitment board.

The government is set to appoint new Chairman of the Prasar Bharti Board also after A Surya Prakash retired a few months ago. There are reports that a leading TV Hindi journalist & anchor Umesh Upadhyay is in the reckoning for the coveted post.  For the recruitment board, Joint Secretary (B-II) in the  Information and Broadcasting Ministry will be an ex-officio member of the board. The board will have four other members -- Deepa Chandra, Retired ADG (Prog), Prasar Bharati; PN Bhakta, Retired ADG (Engg), Prasar Bharati; Kimbuong Kipgen, Secretary, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB); Chetan Prakash Jain, GM (HR), Rail Vikas Nigam Limited.

This is the first time India’s public service broadcaster has got its own recruitment board after it was set up as an autonomous body in 1997 under the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990.

The chairperson and members, other than ex-officio members, shall be entitled to a sitting fee and not be entitled to any salary or remuneration. Prasar Bharati comprises All India Radio and Doordarshan Television Network.

Modi tightens Ministries belt, Cut 25% Expenditure

Railways to cut costs, Reduce Staff, Others follow Piyush Goyal Acts fast

Harish Gupta (National Editor, Lokmat Group)

New Delhi, June 23

Acting swiftly on the directions of the Prime Minister, the Railways and other Central ministries have started taking a slew of austerity-measures to cut expenditure.

The ministries have been directed to avoid

holding ceremonial functions physically and move over to  digital platforms. The Railways under Piyush Goyal and , Road Transport under Nitin Gadkari and others used to hold at least 6-7 functions per day on an average. Not anymore.

The Ministries have been told to cut down the use of stationary at least by 50 per cent and identify areas where costs can be cut immediately by 20%-25%.

Among the austerity measures underway, the Railway Minister Piyush Goyal plans for freezing creation of new posts, dumping outsourced work to companies to involve CSR pattern and rationalizing  manpower at its workshops. On the directions of the Minister, the financial commissioner directed GMs  on June 19 that the traffic earnings dropped by 58 per cent at the end of May. It also asked the zones to review contracts, and reduce energy consumption. There is a freeze on creation of any new post except for safety-related posts. All file work be moved to the digital sphere and advised that all correspondence must be done through secure e-mails system.

Earlier, the Modi government had put on hold all proposed foreign training stints for its officials during 2020-21. Any foreign training needed in “exceptional circumstances” will be permitted, but with the prior approval of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), said the June 15 order. The officials are sent for mid-career training programs to  foreign universities, including Harvard, Cambridge, UCLA, Berkeley, Australia and New Zealand.

Last fortnight, the Department of Expenditure had directed the ministries to suspend all new schemes with funding commitments of up to Rs 500 crore till March next year. The order exempts the Covid-related schemes.

Earlier, the Central government had also frozen increments of DA to government employees and pensioners. It was forced to resort to such drastic measures after the government’s revenue receipts hit an all-time low due to Covid-19 and other problems.

Telangana tops in Covid +ve Cases rate Maharashtra slips to second slot

Corona Testing to touch One Crore Mark this week 

Harish Gupta (National Editor, Lokmat Group)

New Delhi, July 2

Telangana emerged on top of the Coronavirus cases in India in terms of percentage today. It pushed Maharashtra to the second slot and Delhi as cases are rising there very rapidly while these are on the decline in these hot spot states. This has caused a new worry to the Centre which had been nudging Telangana to conduct more tests.

The data accessed by Lokmat suggest from

official Health ministry sources revealed that positive cases touched a record high 18.7% pushing Maharashtra to 18.5% and Delhi 16.3%.

Though the number of Covid cases in Telanagana are 17357 only compared to Maharashtra’s 1.86 lakh and Delhi’s 89802 cases.  But these states (see the table) have undertaken record tests since February and due to sustained efforts, cases are on the decline.  Even these cases had not been possible had the Centre not pushed and the High Court not scolded the state for less tests. The daily testing in Telagana was just 1096 on June 17 which has now risen to 7691 until July 1 night.

If the positive cases were 269 cases on June 17, they rose to 17357 yesterday, a jump of more than 60 times in less than a fortnight.  The testing during the last fortnight rose seven times only – from 1096 tests to 7691 on July 1 night.

Surprisingly, neighbouring Andhra Pradesh

conducted 9.18 lakh tests and its positive cases rate is just 1.7% - lowest in the country.  But Maharashtra was on top in the country in conducting highest with 50825 tests. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu conducted 12.02 lakh cases and positive cases are 7.8%.

One Crore tests by this weekend

Interestingly, India will set a new record when it may cross one crore Covid test mark. It nearly touched  2.30 lakh tests per day record today.

India conducted 37.37 lakh tests on May 31 and positive cases were 4.9% which has now risen to 6.7%- a jump of nearly two percent. In terms of numbers, the cases rose from 1.82 lakhs to 6.04 lakhs..

Cabinet reshuffle, party rejig on cards

PM holds high-level meet , Nadda, top RSS leaders present

Harish Gupta (National Editor, Lokmat Group)
New Delhi, June 30

Final touches are being given for a reshuffle in Union Cabinet and Team-Nadda this month.  A high-level meeting took place  at the Prime Minister's residence  where top leaders of the RSS, BJP president J P Nadda and others were present. 

 Two top functionaries of the RSS, joint general

secretaries Dattratreya Honsabole and Dr Krishan Gopal, BJP general secretary B L Santosh, incharge of organisation along with party chief J P Nadda were present. This is the first time after the 100-days long lockdown that the top  leadership of the government and party apparatus came face-to-face. Insiders say that the meeting among the top leaders continued for more than two and half hours where thorough review of the achievements of the party, challenges and short-comings were discussed. 

Now that the Rajya Sabha biennial polls are over and Unlock 2.0 is in the process and the Parliament's Monsoon session is being planned sooner than expected, a much-delayed rejig is likely.  

There is a buzz that party's key functionary in West Bengal Mukul Roy may be brought into the Cabinet and may get a heavy weight ministry. Similarly, Jyotiraditya Scindia who was recently elected to Rajya Sabha and instrumental in BJP forming the government in Madhya Pradesh will be brought into the Cabinet. Similarly, there is a strong talk of Himanta Biswa Sarma may be brought into the Union Ministry who has done excellent work in the North East as a reward for his services.  The party has to win West Bengal elections and the induction of Mukul Roy will have some electrifying effect. 

It is learnt that some of the Cabinet Ministers were also called in at the PMO for a brief period and they left after a while. What transpired among them is not immediately known. But it is clear that some of the Ministers are under the radar for their poor performance. Those holding more than one portfolio in the government are likely to shed some weight.

Similarly, Nadda has been waiting in the wings to have a team after taking over as party chief on January 20. There are three vacancies in the parliamentary board due to the untimely demise of Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar. There is a talk that any of the two women leaders, Nirmala Sitharaman or Smriti Irani may be brought in. There is also a suggestion that Irani be made the party's face of Delhi while retaining Cabinet post to take on Arvind Kejriwal.