As the much awaited Cabinet reshuffle gets underway, the fundamental question that is most pertinent at the moment is, what would be the impact of the soon to be held Uttar Pradesh elections on the reshuffle. After all as the current composition of the Cabinet stands, 13 ministers including the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Home minister Rajnath Singh are from Uttar Pradesh. Would a reshuffle at this juncture mean that there would be more faces from the state or would there be a bit less of them and how would that impact the fate of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party in election bound UP?
According to sources, BJP will go all out to achieve the intricate caste rainbow that they plan to target in the forthcoming state election. The new faces that the Prime Minister plans to induct would surely go a long way in indicating the specific caste combination that the BJP is targeting going into Uttar Pradesh elections.
In all 19 new faces are likely to be inducted in the Cabinet. One name that is repeatedly doing the rounds is the daughter of Late Sone Lal Patel. Anupriya Patel is the Apnal Dal MP from UP and her party is one of BJP’s key ally in the state. The fact that Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah attended the Apna Dal’s ‘Jan Swabhiman rally’ to mark the 67th birth anniversary of its founder Sone Lal Patel goes onto further reassert the fact.
Another factor that works in Patel’s favour is the fact that she also belongs to the Kurmi caste and the BJP is quite aggressive about winning their support, especially after the Bihar Elections. We would like to remind our readers that Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar also belongs to the Kurmi caste.
There is another very strong contender amongst the BJP MPs who might win a place in the Cabinet reshuffle today. Yes we mean Mahendra Pandey! Especially after Pandey’s recent meeting with Party President, Amit Shah. Pandey belongs to the key Brahmin caste and that’s a major vote bank in any UP election and I am sure the BJP will be betting big on getting their unequivocal support.
Other potential faces include MJ Akbar and Anil Madhav Dave, besides Mandla MP Faggan Singh Kulaste. Maharashtra’s Subhash Bhamre from Dhule and Rajen Gohain, the MP for Nagaon in Assam, are also in the race. being considered. Overall the expectation is of a more varied and caste specific representation at the Cabinet Reshuffle by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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