New Delhi: With the state Assembly polls approaching and the country heading for a general election in 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may be going in for a Cabinet reshuffle. Soon. Speculation is rife that top leaders of the BJP, such as home minister Amit Shah, BJP president J.P. Nadda and general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh, were at the Prime Minister’s residence late on Wednesday night to discuss a Cabinet rejig and possible organisational changes. All eyes, within and outside the BJP, are on the Prime Minister as he gets ready to chair a meeting of the full council of ministers on Monday, July 3.
The meeting at the PM’s residence also reportedly discussed the possibility of implementing the contentious Uniform Civil Code before the general election. It may be recalled that while addressing a rally at Madhya Pradesh recently, the PM made a strong pitch for the UCC. Incidentally, Uttarakhand, the “Dev Bhoomi” (land of God), is expec-ted to implement the UCC in July. The meeting also went through the feedback received from across the Lok Sabha constituencies.
There are whispers in saffron circles that states which could be looked into for representation in Mr Modi’s Cabinet may include West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and those in the Hindi heartland. A senior BJP leader felt that there “is a strong possibility of Kerala superstar Suresh Gopi being inducted in the Cabinet”. It was learnt that some senior ministers could be shifted to the organisation for party and election-related work.
The BJP is also expected to make changes in the state units of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka. Speculation is rife that the state governments in Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh and Pushkar Dhami-led Uttarkhand could also go in for a reshuffle. The meeting also ytalked about the BJP’s political situation in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
On implementation of the UCC, the BJP will be training its leaders and cadres on how to counter the charges against it with facts. Home minister Amit Shah, law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and senior bureaucrats had recently met after the Law Commission had sought fresh suggestions from various stakeholders, including public and religious organisations, on the UCC.
