Centre always had ministers from Tamil Nadu
The AIADMK had joined the Vajpayee Cabinet before severing ties in 1999.
Hyderabad: The timing of the much-discussed Union Cabinet reshuffle is said to be linked to the AIADMK joining the NDA camp.
According to sources, the view of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah is that it would be unfair to leave the largest state in the south, and a party with 50 MPs, unrepresented in the Union Cabinet.
The AIADMK had joined the Vajpayee Cabinet before severing ties in 1999. The AIADMK has 50 members in both Houses of Parliament; it is the third largest party in the Lok Sabha after the BJP and the Congress.
Tamil Nadu parties, either with the UPA or in the NDA, used to get representation in the Union Cabinet — at one time the state had nearly 10 ministers at the Centre. Presently, Kanya-kumari Lok Sabha member Pon Radhakrishnan is the only minister of state representing Tamil Nadu at the Centre.
Sources indicated there would a major reshuffle of BJP central office-bearers and Parliamentary Board which would eventually be linked with the Cabinet reshuffle. “The proposed changes in both Union Cabinet and the party committees will be the last one before the 2019 elections. It will be an election team,” the source revealed.
The current office-bearers were appointed during the tenure of Mr Rajnath Singh as BJP president while Mr Shah has appointed a few persons so far, the sources said.