BJP leadership discusses ministerial berths

BJP holds high-level meetings to finalize ministerial berths before NDA government's third term under PM Modi. Allies to get cabinet and MoS positions.

High-level meetings were held in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday to finalise names of leaders who will be given ministerial berths, a day before the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will be sworn in for the third time in a row with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, senior leaders aware of the details said.

Preparations underway at Rashtrapati Bhavan. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The party will have to part with several ministries to accommodate allies, particularly those who have helped meet the deficit in the overall seat count. The BJP, which has 240 lawmakers, 32 less than the required strength to form the government, has got support from the Telegu Desam Party, the Janata Dal Secular, the Janata Dal United, Apna Dal and 10 others.

According to one of the party functionaries, the discussions have been “largely amicable” and it has broadly been decided that the BJP will retain the big four ministries of defence, finance, home and external affairs. Allies such as the TDP, JDU, JDS and LJP are likely to get cabinet berths in addition to minister of state positions.

Modi will host all new ministers at his residence before the swearing-in ceremony. Party chief JP Nadda and Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajanth Singh met on Saturday to decide names that will be inducted in the Union council of ministers; earlier, on Friday, the BJP high command held meetings with leaders of the NDA partners to discuss allocation of portfolios.

“Since all the allies with more than two lawmakers have to be accommodated, there is a proposal to give one cabinet berth for parties with at least five MPs and one minister of state position for every two MPs,” said the leader quoted above.

If the proposal is accepted, then the TDP with 14 MPs is set to get two or three cabinet positions and a couple of ministers of state. K Rammohan Naidu and P Chandrasekhar’s names were doing the rounds for cabinet positions on Saturday. The party is also keen to get the Speaker’s post in addition to ministries such as urban development, social justice, roads and highways, and information and technology.

The JDU, which has set its eyes on ministries such as agriculture, water resources, rural development and railways has 16 MPs and is likely to get three cabinet posts in addition to MoS positions.

The LJP’s (Ram Vilas) Chirag Paswan, who has emerged as a young, Dalit face in Bihar after his party won all five Lok Sabha seats that it contested, is also likely to get one cabinet berth and one MoS position. Allies that have three or fewer lawmakers such as the RLD, Jana Sena, JDS and HAM will also qualify for a MoS position.

Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur and Daggubati Purandeswari from Andhra Pradesh are set to get key berths while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is likely to get one cabinet seat, which could go to Shrirang Barne though Shinde’s son Shrikant Shinde has not been ruled out either.

The RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary is expected to take oath as a minister of state while Pawan Kalyan is likely to get a cabinet seat and Jitan Ram Manjhi is set to be a minister of state.

“Apart from the allies, there are other considerations too. Caste, state and gender representation have to be taken into consideration as well. There has to be a representative from the southern region from Kerala, where the BJP has won for the first time, from Tamil Nadu where we did not win any seat but have vastly improved our vote share,” said a second functionary.

Calls were made from the PMO and Nadda’s office to those taking oath. There is a possibility that some senior BJP leaders who have held positions in the organisation or been chief ministers or ministers in the state could be included in the council of ministers.

For instance, the name of a former chief minister who has been elected to the Lok Sabha is being speculated for the post of Lok Sabha speaker.

Party leaders, however, remained tight lipped about the names of the possible ministers. In the JDU, people aware of the details said the decision to nominate members to the council of ministers rests with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. “Last time he nominated RCP Singh for a position, but things soured between them. Singh had to eventually resign as there were misgivings about his closeness to the BJP. The CM will pick the names of his confidants...,” said a party functionary. The front runners include Kumar’s confidants Sanjay Jha, Lallan Singh and Ramnath Thakur.

In the TDP too, similar sentiments were expressed by a person aware of the details.

There is speculation that there will be newer faces in the new council of ministers, including some lateral entries. Although Ram Mohan Naidu and Harish Balayogi are speculated to be ministers.

There is no word on whether the total number of ministers will remain the same as before or if more faces will be given charge. In 2019 the council of ministers had faces such as S Jaishankar, the former foreign secretary inducted as minister for external affairs, and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar, who was inducted a minister of state.

In 2014, when the government was sworn in, the BJP had 23 cabinet ministers, 11 ministers with independent charge, and 32 ministers of state. Four allies were given cabinet berths and two were MoS. The LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan was made cabinet minister with the portfolio of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, while the TDP’s Ashok Gajapati Raju was given charge of civil aviation till he resigned on March 9, 2018. It was subsequently given to Suresh Prabhu, who switched from the Shiv Sena to the BJP. The SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal was cabinet minister of food processing and industries, while Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena was also given the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises.

In 2019, when the government was sworn in, the BJP had 21 of the 24 cabinet berths, nine ministers with independent charge and 24 ministers of state. Paswan continued to be a cabinet minister till his death in October 2020. Badal was also given cabinet rank and the portfolio of food processing until she resigned in 2020 following her party’s exit from the NDA over the farm laws that were later repealed. After the Shiv Sena (UBT) also walked out of the NDA, Arvind Sawant, a cabinet minister who had the portfolio of heavy industries, resigned in November 2019.

In March this year, the LJP’s Pashupati Paras, who was given a cabinet position in July 2021, also resigned. While the JDU’s RCP Singh, who was made a minister in July 2021 resigned in July 2022 after his term as a Rajya Sabha MP ended, the party did not repeat him. Athawale and Patel continued as ministers of state.