by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Good days for Rajnath Singh return, Finally
PM seeks his counsel more often now
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Oct 5
The clout of the Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh is rising in the Modi Establishment lately. Though he conrinues to be No 2 in the Mofi government. But he took somewhat a political hit when he was shifted from Home ministry to Defence to make room for Modi's Man-Friday Amit Shah. Even in the Modi.1 he always had an uneasy situation as the PM relied more on then then Finance Minister late Arun Jaitley, BJP president Amit Shah and even Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.
But times have changed and the first clue came on October 2 when the PM visited the Central Hall of Parliament to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi and Late Lal Bahadur Sashtri. Immediately after the brief ceremony, the PM took Rajnath Singh to his chamber and closeted with him for more than 30 minutes. This is reported to be the third one-to-one meet between them. Next day after the October 2 meeting, Rajnath Singh's most trusted lieutenant and spokesman of the BJP Sudhanshu Trivedi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Trivedi was waiting in the wings for almost six years to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha while all his juniors made it to the Upper House. Even this time, it was clear that UP unit was pushing for Laxmi Kant Vajpayee while supporters of Amit Shah wanted Manoj Sinha to be accommodated. Manoj Sinha had lost the Lok Sabha polls by a very narrow margin and Vajpayee was party's UP unit chief. But Trivedi made the cut after the 30-minute tete with the PM.
Trivedi's nomination surprised political watchers as he had been in virtual political wilderness. But finally, the Gods (read PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah) smiled on him and he was told over the telephone that BJP will send him to the RS from UP on October 3 night. The seat fell vacant after the demise of Arun Jaitley on August 24 due to prolonged illness. He will be in Rajya Sabha until 2022. Its a clear indication of rising clout of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The PM has been regularly seeking his counsel as there is hardly senior leader after the demise of Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. Rajnath Singh being a very composed and mature leader and man of few words has gained in stature. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is there. But sometimes he opens his heart out and that causes problem. But Rajnath Singh has been measured in his public utterances. He had on the margins for rather too long.
Ends
