by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Decks cleared for Mega Swearing in
Modi wants Amit Shah in Cabinet
Jaitley opts out,
65-70 Ministers to take oath
There will be some surprises too
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, May 29
Decks have been cleared for the mega swearing-in-ceremony of the Modi government tomorrow evening in the Forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan.
It looks almost certain that the BJP president, Amit Shah will join the Union Cabinet. In all probability he will be given the Finance portfolio. Arun Jaitley had already opted out of the ministerial assignment due to health reasons. Lokmat was first to break the story about Jaitley opting out on May 24 itself. It is also learnt that Rajnath Singh will not be disturbed and continue to hold the Home portfolio. In the event of Sushma Swaraj also opting out of the External Affairs Ministry due to health reasons, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may be sent there. Piyush Goyal is sure to make the cut for either Finance or even External Affairs Ministry. The catch is that Jaitley's letter said he will take a few months to recover. Will the PM give one key ministry in dual charge under one senior minister, is not clear.
Another thing is clearly emerging that mega ministry will be sworn in comprising of almost 65-70 ministers including eight representatives of the allies' parties.
The biggest contingent of Ministers will be from Maharashtra, UP, Bihar and Rajasthan. There were 22 ministers from the Rajya Sabha who belonged to the BJP when the party's strength was just 73. Now BJP has bigger mandate in the Lok Sabha of 303 and allies like JD(U), Shiv Sena, Akalis, AGP, AJSU, BDF, Apna Dal, SKM, RLP, NPP, NDPP, LJP and AIADMK. Modi will also like to keep a window for some future allies too. Therefore, the share of the BJP MP s will be reduced this time and many of them who were in the government in NDA-I, will have to sit out.
In the event of Amit Shah joining the government, out-going Health Minister J P Nadda will be new party President.
Modi is likely to keep motormouth out and induct those faces who help in his slogan- Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Viswaas.
The Maharashtra contingent could include Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javadekar, Heena Gavit or Poonam Mahajan, Dr Subhash Bhamre, Raosaheb Danve and two from Shiv Sena. Ram Das Athawale may also be retained though his party was not given a Lok Sabha ticket. Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu is also a key member of the Modi ministry.
Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad (Bihar), Smriti Zubin Irani, Thaawarchand Gehlot ,Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,
Anil Baluni, (Uttarakhand), Tejaswi Surya (Karnataka), Aprajita Sarangi (Odisha) may be inducted. Interestingly, a couple of those who lost out may also be brought in like Bharti Ghose from West bengal and Hardeep Puri from Punjab.
Birjinder Singh and Krishanpal Gurjar from Haryana may make the cut. Chaudhary Birender Singh will not be a Minister. Dr Harsh Vardhan, Vijay Goyal and Manoj Tiwari are also in the reckoning from Delhi.
Modi will start calling the new appointees some time tomorrow morning at 6 am and call them over tea at 9 am at Loknayak Marg residence, sources say.
Ends
