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Ram Temple inauguration: Rajbhar’s “we’ll be there” quip revives cabinet expansion buzz
Rajbhar’s claim of becoming a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government was made hours after he met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday.
Amid a renewed buzz about the first expansion of the Yogi 2.0 ministry, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief and former minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has said that he could be admitted in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh “anytime after kharmas”.
Kharmas refers to the month-long period that many Hindus consider inauspicious. Since the period ends on January 15, BJP ally Rajbhar’s assertion, though not for the first time, now has also opened the prospect of the cabinet expansion happening ahead of the Ram temple inauguration on January 22.
Rajbhar’s claim of becoming a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government was made hours after he met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Thursday. Shortly afterwards, former minister Dara Singh Chauhan, an OBC leader from the Nonia subcaste, too, met Shah, creating another buzz about the two leaders, who were part of the first Yogi ministry, becoming ministers again in the Yogi government 2.0.
Asked if he has been invited to the Ram Temple inauguration, Rajbhar said, “Hum log rahenge (we will be there)”, adding grist to the mill of the likelihood of an expansion and the entry of OBC leaders like Rajbhar and Dara Singh Chauhan after January 15, though there is much curiosity on if it could happen ahead of the Ram temple inauguration.
“Dekhiye (let’s see),” Rajbhar said to queries on if it could happen ahead of the temple inauguration while asserting – not for the first time, though – that this time he would become a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.
“By what time would I become a minister is difficult to assess, but the expansion is happening any time after kharmas and I would be part of it when that happens,” Rajbhar said.
A similar buzz about the expansion of the council of ministers that can still accommodate eight more ministers, had died out in the past. Yet, this time, with just a couple of months to go for April-May Lok Sabha polls, party leaders admit that the possibility of an expansion of the Yogi Adityanath government is quite high.
A senior BJP leader said while the cabinet expansion has been delayed, the party leadership would surely give “respect” to leaders who represent the marginalised groups.
“Whether it is Rajbhar or Dara Singhji who belongs to Nonia, an OBC sub-caste, it is given that these leaders have a following among their people and as a political party, the BJP surely would look to give them respect,” the leader said.
Rajbhar had earlier said that a meeting featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be organised by the SBSP in Azamgarh, a Lok Sabha constituency that was won by the BJP in the Lok Sabha by-poll after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had vacated the seat following his win from the Karhal assembly constituency of Mainpuri in the 2022 U.P. assembly polls.
