With the resignation of two ministers in the Union cabinet – Mukthar Abbas Naqvi and R C P Singh on completion of their Rajya Sabha term, speculations are going on in the national capital on a possible reshuffle of the council of ministers by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
With still nearly two years left for the next Lok Sabha elections, the chances of the Prime Minister resorting to yet another reshuffle of the Union cabinet cannot be ruled out.
In any case, he has to fill up at least these two vacancies.
Moreover, there have been reports that Modi is not happy with the functioning of some of the cabinet colleagues.
So, there is a chance that he might drop them and induct a few fresh faces in their place.
It is generally presumed that the new faces would be inducted from those states which would go to elections in the next one year – including Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan, besides north-eastern states like Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.
By inducting the BJP leaders from these states into the cabinet, Modi might cash in on appeasing the voters.
At the same time, there is a possibility of attracting new friends into the NDA, so that they would become additional advantage to the BJP in the next general elections.
As part of the strategy, there is a talk that Modi might invite YSR Congress party once again into the National Democratic Alliance and offer a couple of berths to the party in the council of ministers, including a cabinet post and a Minister of State (MoS) post.
In fact, the BJP top leadership had made such an offer to YSRC president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the past, but the latter had reportedly rejected it, as he wanted to remain independent while maintaining friendly relations with the Centre.
Moreover, Jagan feared it might lead to the talk that he had surrendered to the BJP leadership to wriggle out of the court cases.
But analysts say he should not reject the BJP offer this time, because the political climate in the state is not very conducive for the YSRC at the ground level.
So, Jagan strongly needs the support of the Centre to return to power. Secondly, it would also help him secure more funds to the state, besides completing the projects like Polavaram and Kadapa Steel Plant with Central assistance.
Most importantly, it would make the things easier for Jagan to get the required legislation passed in Parliament on the three capitals issue.
“And lastly, he can prevent the possibility of a BJP-Jana Sena alliance joining hands with the TDP,” an analyst observed.