New Delhi, May 25: A terse text message from Rajiv Pratap Rudy to certain journalists this afternoon set alarm bells ringing among his peers and immediate seniors in the BJP.
The message said: “Thank u, I am not in cabinet, will look after party work — rudy.” Rudy’s three cellphone numbers were promptly switched off while nobody answered his landline.
Rudy, who defeated Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi in Saran, was a civil aviation minister in the Vajpayee-led NDA government. A trained pilot, who worked for a commercial airline for gratis in the period when the BJP was out of power, Rudy, a Rajput by caste and regarded as close to the party president, Rajnath Singh, was a running favourite as a probable in Narendra Modi’s cabinet. “It was assumed that Rudy would walk in effortlessly,” a BJP source said.
This morning, he was reportedly told by Rajnath that he will continue in the BJP as a general secretary and focus on Bihar, which the party thinks could hurtle into a mid-term election.
Last week, when a delegation of the BJP’s newly elected MPs from Karnataka called on Modi at Gujarat Bhavan, his message to them was they would have to work hard to rebuild the party and keep the cadre’s “batteries recharged” because the “Modi wave could peter out in three months”.
In the delegation was sixth time South Bangalore MP Ananth Kumar, who supposedly faced a “tough” fight this time against Nandan Nilekani of the Congress and triumphed with a huge margin. Sources said Ananth, an urban development minister in the Vajpayee government, too might be grounded in the party.
D.V. Sadananda Gowda, a former Karnataka chief minister, is the likeliest cabinet inductee from Karnataka. Gowda is a Vokkaliga by caste. To placate the other powerful community of the state, the Lingayats, Modi could have a junior minister from the caste.
B.S Yeddyurappa, another former chief minister, also won the election. But since he is not quite out of a legal tangle arising from his alleged dubious land dealings, Modi “discreetly” communicated to Yeddyurappa to retain his “honour” as well as that of the new government, it was better if Yeddyurappa ruled himself out as a prospective minister. He did just that in a letter to Modi that was made available to the press.
Yet another senior, who was fancied as a sure-fire inductee but faces uncertainty, was M. Venkaiah Naidu. He was a rural development minister in the Vajpayee dispensation. Sources said he was told by Modi that he would be used in another capacity.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, for long the BJP’s “Muslim face” with Shahnawaz Hussain, was reportedly unsure of making the grade that seemed a foregone conclusion last week. Hussain lost his election from Bhagalpur. It appeared his defeat had cleared the way for Naqvi’s ministership although he is a Rajya Sabha MP.
Sources said the “minority quota” toss-up was between Naqvi and Najma Heptullah, also a Rajya Sabha member. Although Naqvi has put in far longer years in the BJP than Najma, a former Congress leader, a source said she also had “gender and stature” on her side. Najma was the Rajya Sabha’s deputy chairperson for several years.
The BJP’s likely faces from Bihar are Ravi Shankar Prasad and Radha Mohan Singh, who won from Motihari. Prasad is expected to be in the cabinet and Singh will probably be a junior minister.
Bihar’s slot will be taken up by two more expected inductions: those of Ram Vilas Paswan (cabinet rank) and Upendra Kushwaha (junior minister). Both helm parties that had a pre-poll alliance with the BJP.
As “consultations” and “discussions” continued for all of today, sources said a list of the ministerial nominees was expected to reach Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow morning. It is understood that the suspense over Rajnath’s plans dissipated this morning after he “gave away his mind” and said he would join the government.
