A cabinet reshuffle of the Narendra Modi-led government is likely soon, according to unconfirmed reports. The NDA will make major changes to its cabinet after the Rajya Sabha elections slated for June 18, and this could feature the removal of some current ministers and entrusting them with organisational responsibilities.
New faces may also be introduced keeping in mind the electoral states. Punjab-based leaders could be included in the cabinet. The BJP has fielded General Secretary Tarun Chugh for the Rajya Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh. Besides him, the name of Sunil Jakhar, a senior BJP leader from the state. Though only Chugh has been nominated as of now, a lack of Rajya Sabha nomination does not essentially rule out Jakhar’s ministerial chances.
“After the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections, the next election cycle for the Upper House will be due in November. Therefore, a non-Rajya Sabha member appointed as a minister can be elected to the House within six months of assuming office,” a BJP source told The Tribune.
On the probable list is Raghav Chadha, the AAP leader from Punjab who recently switched to the BJP. Neither Chadha nor any party leader has officially stated this. But the BJP’s decision to not nominate Punjab leader Ravneet Singh Bittu hints at the possibility that several new faces from Punjab will join the cabinet.
Chadha has recently been appointed as the new chairman of the House's Petitions Committee. Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan reconstituted the Petitions Committee and nominated 10 members of the House to the committee.
Dr. Jagroop Singh Sekhon, former professor of the Department of Political Science at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, had described Raghav Chadha “as an English-speaking, fair-skinned face but unfamiliar with the underbelly of Punjab politics” in an earlier interview with the BBC. "Raghav Chadha has neither been associated with student elections nor with social politics. Raghav Chadha is a social media politician, but a leader unaware of ground politics. Being loyal and young, Arvind Kejriwal felt that he could not go beyond that, which is why he was made a 'power flower' in Punjab.”
He said that the same task that Arvind Kejriwal took from Raghav Chadha to control Punjab, the BJP may also take from him.
Buoyed by its victory in West Bengal, the BJP's focus is now firmly on Punjab. The party recently appointed Sikh leader Kewal Singh Dhillon as its new president, clearly signalling its intention to contest the upcoming assembly elections independently, without the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The party is preparing to oust the Aam Aadmi Party from power by making law and order, drug abuse, religious conversions, and stalled development major issues in Punjab.
