Modi 3.0 | BJP gives message of continuity by retaining senior ministers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath for the third consecutive tenure on Sunday (June 9), becoming the only non-Congress leader to achieve this milestone.

Amid speculation that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have to go the extra length to accommodate members of its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the Union Council of Ministers, the BJP leadership kept the lion’s share of the ministerial berths for itself.

Large numbers

More than 70 MPs took oath as Union ministers on Sunday. At least 11 leaders of NDA allies joined in, marking the highest number of non-BJP NDA leaders becoming Union ministers. It may be recalled that in 2019, around 53 leaders took part in the swearing-in ceremony.

“Although the BJP has the maximum number of ministers in the Council of Ministers, it is the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that is in power. The Opposition was trying to tell the BJP and NDA that this government would not be strong, but the fact is that the NDA is united. We do not know if the Opposition alliance is going to remain together in the coming days or not,” RP Singh, national spokesperson of the BJP, told The Federal.

“The Opposition is in disarray. We do not need any lessons on running a coalition government from the Opposition. The NDA has always performed its national duties and even now it remains a united political force whereas the Opposition alliance has started to disintegrate. In the coming days, people in the country will witness how NDA solidly remains together but the opposition alliance will disintegrate,” Singh added.

State to Centre

Interestingly, while Modi tried to give a message of continuity by repeating most of the high-profile Central ministers of the BJP, the new entrants included former Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. They took oath as Cabinet ministers for the first time.

The induction of senior BJP leaders like Chouhan and Khattar into the Cabinet is in line with the long standing demand of the PM that all senior leaders of the BJP who have played an important role in their respective states must now shift their base to Delhi and play a role in the national government.

JD(U) makes debut

The decade-long troubles between the ruling BJP leadership and the Janata Dal (United) under Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seem to have been ironed out, and the regional party joined the Council of Ministers.

Senior leader Lalan Singh was chosen by Nitish Kumar to become a member of Modi’s Council of Ministers. The choice is interesting because senior BJP leaders in Bihar had accused him of being responsible for the deteriorating relations between the party and JD(U).

Senior JD(U) leaders now believe the presence of a Union minister from their ranks will help in better coordination and dialogue, and will also bring greater benefits to Bihar in the third term of Modi as Prime Minister.

“Bihar is going to become the centre of attraction for the entire country in the coming days. The presence of senior JD(U) leaders in the Union government will help in better dialogue, greater confidence and development for the people of Bihar. It is a good step in the right direction for the people of Bihar under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,” Arvind Nishad, national spokesperson of the party, told The Federal.

Naidu's presence

The presence at the swearing-in ceremony of TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister-elect of Andhra Pradesh, marks the return of the regional party to the Centre. It ends a nearly six-year-long political tussle between the BJP leadership and Naidu.

The TDP quit the NDA in 2018 over the Centre not acceding to its demand for special status for Andhra Pradesh. Nitish Kumar has also been seeking special status for Bihar.

BJP reorganisation

Ending days of speculation on who will get a call from the BJP leadership to join the Modi 3.0 government, Smriti Irani and Anurag Thakur were left out. After a decade of being part of the government, Irani and Thakur did not join the Council of Ministers today.

The absence of some of the senior leaders in the Union government, and the return of BJP president JP Nadda as a Cabinet minister, indicate that the party is all set for a major organisational change in the coming days.

With Nadda's tenure coming to an end later this month, the BJP leadership has to elect a new party president and it is possible that Thakur and Irani may be moved to a party role.

Cause for concern

Senior leaders of the BJP are worried over the electoral performance of the party in the recently concluded general elections. Eighteen Union ministers lost the elections and, for the first time in a decade, the BJP could not get a majority on its own.

However, the changes in the party organisation may not be related to that, political analysts said.

“It is not new for PM Modi to drop prominent leaders from the Council of Ministers. JP Nadda was also part of the Union cabinet when he was sent to the party. Similarly, former Union ministers like Radha Mohan Singh, Purushottam Rupala and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have all been asked to work for the party instead of the government,” Yatindra Singh Sisodia, Director, Madhya Pradesh Institute of Social Science Research, told The Federal.