Amid Cabinet talks, names emerge from TDP, JD(U), smaller partners

With Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi indicating that his Cabinet (or at least part of it), will be sworn in along with him on Sunday, with preliminary indications being that if there are 27-30 Cabinet ministers as they were in the second Modi government,roughly a third of them will now be allies in the incoming National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Then there will be some ministers of state.

According to people familiar with the matter, the formula that has been shared with allies is a Cabinet minister’s post for every four-five MPs and a junior minister’s post for every two. Interestingly, while both BJP leaders and the newly elected MPs confirm that negotiations are on between the partners, there’s no clarity on what is being asked for, or what is being offered. It is believed that Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and JP Nadda are involved in negotiations with the partners from the BJP’s side.

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The biggest ally of the BJP in the NDA is the Telugu Desam-Jana Sena combine with 18 MPs (16 for the first and 2 for the second). TDP leaders said party chief N Chandrababu Naidu is maintaining radio silence on his discussions with the BJP on portfolios. Most of the MPs flew back Friday night and some of them are hoping they will be asked to fly back Sunday for the 6 pm swearing-in.

Telugu Desam leaders named three-time MP from Srikakulam Lok Sabha constituency Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu as a possible Cabinet minister. The party is hoping for another Cabinet portfolio, they added, or two state ministers and the deputy speaker’s post for GM Harish Balayogi from Amalapura, who is the son of former Lok Sabha speaker GMC Balayogi, who held the post in the early years of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Rammohan Naidu, 37, entered the politics in 2012, after the death of his father Kinjarapu Yerran Naidu, who served as Cabinet minister in the HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral regimes between 1996 and 1998, holding the portfolio of rural development and employment.

Also Read | Amid Cabinet talks, names emerge from TDP, JD(U), smaller partners

The other names doing the rounds within the party are Pemmasani Chandrasekhar from Guntur and Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy from Nellore. “While Chandrasekhar has tremendous connections among NRI investors, Prabhakar Reddy is an influential person in the corporate circles. They can help atgtract investments to the state,” said one TDP leader.

If the TDP gets a fourth berth, Naidu may propose the name of an MP from Scheduled Caste community – either D Prasada Rao from Chittoor or T Krishna Prasad from Bapatla — the leaders added.

In addition, there is the likelihood of Vallabhaneni Bala Showry from Machilipatnam getting a spot from the Jana Sene, the leaders said. “Among the BJP MPs from Andhra Pradesh, party state unit president Daggubati Purandeshwari might get a chance,” the TDP leader added.

In terms of numbers, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), with 12 MPs, comes next. JD(U) leaders familiar with the matter said the party could get two or three Cabinet portfolios, and listed Railways and Agriculture as possibilities. The named doing the rounds within the party are Munger MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, Sanjay Jha, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, Ramnath Thakur, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, and prominent EBC (extremely backward class) leader Sunil Kumar, the newly elected MP from the Valmiki Nagar constituency who is a member of the Kushwaha community.

“It all boils down to what Nitish Kumar would like, as he is also the party president this time. Nitish Kumar may also have his eyes on other aspects, viz. a Rajya Sabha seat falling vacant in Bihar due to election of Misa Bharti to the Lok Sabha. With four years still remaining. JD(U) will eye that seat. Besides, Kumar may also like to have an important deals for Bihar cleared,” said a JD(U) leader.

“The JD (U) parliamentary party has authorised Nitish Kumar to decide on the names,” said Lallan Singh.

Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (RV), with five MPs, is also in line for some ministerships although Paswan said he has not “demanded any Cabinet berth” and that it is the “PM’s portfolio”. But BJP leaders said Paswan would himself get an important portfolio; they added that HAM’s Jiten Ram Manjhi (the only MP from his party) could be made a minister of state.

The arithmetic from Bihar makes it clear why the Cabinet will have a significant representation from allies. “It remains to be seen how many former BJP ministers can be retained this time, as there is not much scope for the BJP to have its way. The party may try new faces. Caste equations may determine who gets a look in, as it is apparent now that things will not remain the same,” said one BJP leader.

Another key ally is the Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde, which has seven MPs. Shinde has already made it clear that his son Shrikant Shinde will not be a minister, and that he’d actually like more seats in the state when assembly elections happen later this year, but within the party, the names of Shrirang Barne, who is a third-term MP from Maval and Jadhav Prataprao Ganpathrao, who is a four-time MP, are doing the rounds. The party will be happy with even one Cabinet slot, a Shiv Sena leader said, because Shinde is already the chief minister of the state although the BJP is the larger party.

That leaves partners such as the Janata Dal (S) and the RLD. The first is believed to be looking at one Cabinet slot, perhaps for H D Kumaraswamy, although l’affaire Prajwal Revanna has put it on the back foot. The Rashtriya Lok Dal is a bit miffed at its leader Jayant Chaudhary not being invited to speak to endorse Modi’s leadership in Parliament but is hoping for one Cabinet ministership.

The meetings and phone conversations continued later into the evening on Friday and are expected to carry on through Saturday as the BJP, which faced no such problems in 2014 and 2019 (when it told its partners what they would get), gets ready for Sunday.