Modi Cabinet Formation HIGHLIGHTS: Big 4 retain portfolios as PM Modi banks on continuity, Shivraj Singh Chouhan appointed Agriculture Minister

Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers will take oath in the Forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan at 7.15 PM today. The event, with over 8,000 invitees, is being held under a thick layer of security in the capital. Delhi has been declared a no-fly zone and there is a three-layer security for the event this evening.

While there is no official word yet, the TDP is believed to have demanded the Speaker’s post for his party in discussions with the BJP. Interestingly, one name doing the rounds is that of GM Harish Madhur, the son of GMC Balayogi, the Speaker in 1999 when the Vajpayee government fell by 1 vote. Madhur is is a first-time MP from Amalapuram constituency in Andhra Pradesh’s Konaseema district.

On April 15, Vajpayee moved a trust motion after J Jayalalithaa pulled out AIADMK ministers from the Cabinet. Vajpayee had secured the assurance of some non-NDA leaders. However, on the voting day, Mayawati and Salman Soz had a sudden change of heart. There were 270 ‘Nos’ and 269 ‘Ayes’. However, it was Girdhar Gamang who was just sworn in as the CM of Odisha who proved to be the deciding factor. Gamang’s entry into the House created an uproar as he had not resigned as the Member of Parliament. Balyogi, however, allowed Gamang’s vote and the Vajpayee government lost power. Had there been a tie, the Speaker would have to cast his vote and the government may not have fallen.

The Speaker of the Lok Sabha plays a crucial role in the government, especially in crisis situations. This is why despite pressure from TDP on the Speaker’s post, the BJP is so far unrelenting. Notably, it was under the watch of TDP leader Ganti Mohana Chandra Balayogi, the first Scheduled Caste person to be appointed Speaker, that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government fell in 1999. The TDP was offering outside support to the Vajpayee government at the time. More on this in next post.

The BJP has refused to relent under pressure from allies on key ministries. The BJP is likely to hold Home, Defence MEA, Road Transport and Highways, Railways, and Agriculture. The TDP and the JDU may still get key positions. Ministries such as I-T, Steel may go to the TDP while Rural Development and Panchayati Raj may fall under the JDU’s quota.

BJP president JP Nadda will host NDA leaders for a dinner after the swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. BJP office bearers and morcha president have also been invited.

Ashwini Vaishnav, Dharmendra Pradhan and Manmohan Samal from Odisha; Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Dushyant SIngh from Rajasthan; Suresh Gopi from Kerala; Shantanu Thakur from West Bengal; Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma from Jannu and Kashmir; Sarbananda Sonowal and Bijuli Kalita Medhi from Assam and Anil Baluni from Uttarakhand is speculated to be inducted in the new Cabinet. Amit Shah from Gujarat is also likely to be retained in the new Cabinet.

It is speculated that several BJP leaders will find space in the new Cabinet. They include Rajnath Singh and Jitin Prasada from UP; Nityanand Rai, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Rajbhushan Nishad and Sanjay Jaiswal from Bihar; Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Narayan Rane from Maharashtra; Jyotiraditya Scindia and Shivraj Singh Chouhan from MP; Prahlad Joshi, Basavaraj Bommai, Govind Karjol and PC Mohan from Karnataka; Kishan Reddy, Eatala Rajender, DK Aruna, D Arvind and Bandi Sanjay from Telangana; D Purandeshwari from Andhra Pradesh, and more.

Prominent names doing the rounds include Ram Mohan Naidu from TDP, HD Kumaraswamy from JD(S), Lalan Singh, Sanjay Kumar Jha, Ram Nath Thakur and Kaushalendra Kumar from the JD(U), Chirag Paswan LJP (Ram Vilas) and Jitan Ram Manjhi from HAM. Other names who could be made ministers include Anupriya Patel from Apna Dal and Jayant Chaudhary from Rashtriya Lok Dal, and Prataprao Jadhav and Shrirang Barne from Shiv Sena.

The list of ministers who lost the election this time include Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Smriti irani, Ajay Kumar Mishra, Subhas Sarkar, Arjun Munda, Kailash Chaudhary, L Murugan, Nisith Pramanik, Sanjeev Balyan, Kapil Patil, Raosaheb Danve, Bharati Pawar, Kaushal Kishore, Bhagwanth Khuba, V. Muralidharan, Mahendranath Pande, Sadhwi Niranjan Jyoti, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Raj Kumar Singh and Debasree Chaudhuri.

The 2019 Union Cabinet featured big names from the BJP who contested the election but lost this time. Some other ministers were not fielded in the Lok Sabha elections. As many as 20 BJP candidates who were serving as ministers lost the election this time. This leaves significant room for MPs from NDA parties to be accommodated in the new Cabinet.

The elections to the 18th Lok Sabha saw a turnaround of sorts with the BJP limited to 240 seats, 32 below the majority mark of 272 seats in the 543-strong Lok Sabha. The NDA comprises the TDP (16 seats), the JDU (12 seats), Shiv Sena (7 seats), LJP (5 seats), JDS (2 seats), Janasena Party (2 seats), RLD (2 seats), HAM (1 seat), NCP (1 seat), Apna Dal (1 seat), AJSU (1 seat), AGP (1 seat) among others.

The swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers will be watched closely – more for the names that make it to the final list of ministers than the grandeur of the event. Allies, so far consigned to the shadows in the NDA government since 2014, have suddenly found room to breathe, and possibly, flex some muscle. Watch this space as we bring you the latest updates on the Cabinet Formation of the new government.

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