Fly on the Wall
Harish Gupta
Modi may reshuffle his pack
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contemplating a reshuffle of his council of ministers in a couple of weeks. With the parliament session coming to an end and NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan's win for the Vice President post a certainty, the reshuffle is reported to be taking a definite shape. It is also becoming clear that the BJP will soon have a new party president in place of J P Nadda and this may also make reshuffle inevitable.
Some of the allies, notably, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena want a full Cabinet position in the Modi government. With Bihar elections around the corner, any Cabinet reshuffle is also likely to see the induction of Bihar allies such as Upendra Kushwaha into the Union Cabinet. The PM even tinker with some key ministries and bring new faces, say some insiders. Normally, Modi undertakes major exercise only after a couple of years of being swearing-in-ceremony after the hustings. But he wants new talent with out-of-box thinking to take new initiatives in view of global challenges. There may be a couple of surprises in store.
Rudy’s Coup: Old Guard Floors New Order
The Constitution Club election in Delhi has set off ripples in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, unsettling the BJP’s Rajput vote bank. Rajiv Pratap Rudy’s emphatic win over former MP and ex-Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan was more than a club contest—it was seen as “old BJP” besting the “new order.” In Bihar, the fallout is sharper. Despite the NDA sweeping 31 Lok Sabha seats, not a single Rajput MP from Bihar—or even neighbouring Jharkhand—has been made a Union Minister. Rudy’s victory has made him a community icon, yet insiders say it has dimmed his own cabinet prospects. Talk of a Union cabinet expansion in the immediate future, where names like Radha Mohan Singh, Rudy, and Janardan Singh Sigriwal figured prominently, has fizzled out.
Sensing neglect, many Rajputs are drifting toward the Mahagathbandhan. The BJP high command is said to be weighing a “big offer” to soothe tempers. With caste equations already fragile and Rajput–Kushwaha tensions simmering, the NDA risks losing ground in nearly a third of Bihar if the resentment deepens. In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, political tremors are no less. Speculation over attempts to “unseat” CM Yogi Adityanath has fuelled unease among Thakurs. Recently, 40 Rajput MLAs and MLCs—including BJP men, SP defectors and independents—met to float a new forum, “Kurumanch Parivar.” Though presented as social, its political undertone was evident. Yogi himself has added to the intrigue. He openly backed Rudy, a Bihar Thakur, over Balyan, UP’s own Rajput face. Days later, he met Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh after 31 months—a symbolic, politically loaded gesture.
The message is unmistakable: Rudy’s small Delhi win has triggered big caste calculations in Bihar and UP. For the BJP, placating restless Thakurs has become both urgent and unavoidable.
Rahul-Kharge Absence spoke louder than protest
On Independence Day, two of Congress’s tallest leaders—Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge—were missing from the Red Fort ceremony. Instead, they unfurled the tricolor at the party HQ, with Rahul’s rain-soaked pictures going viral. But their absence from the national stage handed the BJP a political bonus.
The buzz is that Rahul deliberately stayed away. Last year, as Leader of Opposition, he was pushed to the second-last row—seen in Congress circles as an “insult.” This time, he chose to avoid a repeat. But in doing so, Rahul and Kharge lost the chance to corner the government. Had they attended and been sidelined again, Congress could have turned it into a “double humiliation” narrative.
Instead, the optics now suggest Gandhi privilege—that they won’t settle for anything less than the front row. It is worth noting that Sonia Gandhi enjoys the front row privilege due to a 2004 protocol change, when the UPA government granted the status of “former Prime Minister’s spouse” to the widow of Rajiv Gandhi. In politics, missed moments hurt more than insults. And Congress just missed one.
Shringla’s Next Act: From Envoy to Hill Hope
Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India’s suave former foreign secretary, has traded diplomacy for politics with his nomination to the Rajya Sabha—widely seen as the BJP’s first step in grooming him for a bigger role. A son of Darjeeling, Shringla was once tipped to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but lost out to sitting MP Raju Bista. Unlike most bureaucrats denied a ticket, he didn’t vanish. Instead, he kept his local connect alive—launching youth programmes, addressing tea garden livelihood issues, and setting up a UPSC coaching centre with the GTA.
In Delhi, his nomination is being read as the BJP’s plan to shape a 2029 candidate—one unburdened by the “Gorkhaland baggage” that shadows Bista. In the hills, it has rekindled hopes that long-pending promises—tribal status for 11 Gorkha groups and a “permanent political solution”—may finally get attention. PM Modi has hailed him as a “strategic thinker.” For now, Shringla enters Parliament as a nominated MP—but his political script is clearly unfinished, with Darjeeling as the launchpad.
