New Delhi: To avert the rise of any other “power centre” within the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have approached some party chief ministers – like Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan and Manohar Parrikar of Goa – to join his government at the Centre.
Though the chief ministers have so far been reluctant to shift to New Delhi, they are being offered plum portfolios like defence and communications.
In his recent meetings with Ms Raje and Mr Parrikar, Mr Modi invited them to join his government, on the pretext that their services would be more meaningful at the national level, BJP sources said.
Besides Ms Raje and Mr Parrikar, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is another leader who could claim the number two slot in the party. But he is embroiled in an admission scam in his state. Mr Chouhan will be moved to Delhi if he fails to wriggle out of this controversy, sources said.
