While the BJP remains tight-lipped about the final decision, certain calls and arrivals in New Delhi have indicated how the party hopes to distribute the cabinet berths among allies from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh.
Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi will be sworn in tonight, 9th June, at 7:15 PM at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi. While preparations are under full swing for the oath-taking ceremony, hints continue to be dropped on who will be a part of the Modi 3.0 Cabinet of Ministers. The third term of Narendra Modi begins with a crucial balancing act between leaders of the BJP who have won the elections and the allies whose support has resulted in the NDA crossing the halfway mark of 272 seats. The JD(U), TDP, LJP, RLD, Apna Dal, and HAM have proven to be key allies of the BJP-led NDA government of 2024.
Which Allies Are Getting the Coveted ‘Call for Cabinet’
From the JD(U) quota for Cabinet berths, one name has been confirmed so far. In an exclusive conversation, JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Ram Nath Thakur has confirmed to NewsX that he will be sworn in as a Cabinet Minister tonight. Ramnath Thakur is the son of socialist stalwart and former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, who was awarded the Bharat Ratna by the Narendra Modi government earlier this year. Thakur, who hails from Samastipur, has also served as Bihar minister between 2005 and 2010.
#TheModiSwearingIn | JD(U) leader Ram Nath Thakur speaks exclusively to #NewsX and confirms his swearing-in as minister in PM Modi’s next cabinet.
‘My goal is to work towards the development of Bihar, will have a discussion with the PM after the oath-taking ceremony regarding… pic.twitter.com/sOOCwz8qba
— NewsX World (@NewsX) June 9, 2024
JD(U) Lok Sabha MP Lalan Singh’s name has also been floated for a position in the Narendra Modi Cabinet. Singh was the national party president of JD(U) from 2021 to 2023. He previously represented Begusarai and Munger and was nominated as a member of the Bihar Legislative Council in June 2014 after his defeat in the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) won 12 seats in Bihar’s Lok Sabha Polls of 2024.
As per sources, the other names to be included in the Modi 3.0 Cabinet include LJP Chief Chirag Paswan, whose party won 5 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Paswan’s late father, Ram Vilas Paswan, served as a Union Minister in both the UPA and NDA governments. Chirag Paswan contested the 2014 elections for the Lok Janshakti Party in the seat of Jamui. He won the seat, defeating the nearest rival, Sudhansu Shekhar Bhaskar of Rashtriya Janata Dal, by over 85,000 votes. Paswan retained his seat in the 2019 elections, securing a total of 528,771 votes and defeating his nearest rival, Bhudeo Choudhary.
The next name from Bihar that has come to light is Jitan Ram Manjhi, chief of the Hindustan Awami Morcha and Lok Sabha MP from Gaya (SC) constituency in Bihar. Manjhi has served as Bihar CM from 2014 to 2015 while being affiliated with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U). Before 2014, Manjhi served as minister for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes welfare in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet. Between 1996 to 2005, Manjhi also served as a minister in the Lalu Yadav led RJD government in Bihar.
According to sources, Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP will get two cabinet berths in this Narendra Modi-led government. TDP MP from Srikakulam, Ram Mohan Naidu, has confirmed to NewsX in an exclusive interview that he will be inducted into the new cabinet. ‘I am happy to get this opportunity at such a young age’, said Naidu, who had arrived in New Delhi for the oath-taking ceremony. At 36, Ram Mohan Naidu continues to be one of the youngest members of Parliament. He has been contesting from Srikakulam since 2014 and has won each time. His father, Kinjarapu Yerran Naidu, served as the Union Minister in H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral Cabinets and contested successfully from Srikakulam to Parliament four times.
#ModiThirdTerm | Ram Mohan Naidu is likely to be sworn in as a cabinet minister in Modi’s new cabinet.
‘I’m feeling very happy; it’s a great opportunity to be a minister at a young age. Let’s hope for the best. We want Andhra Pradesh to be the best state in the country. We will… pic.twitter.com/TXVkayoLcI
— NewsX World (@NewsX) June 9, 2024
From Uttar Pradesh, Mirzapur MP-elect and Apna Dal chief Anupriya Patel has also been invited to the oath-taking ceremony, hinting at a possible re-induction into the Narendra Modi cabinet. Patel has served as Union Minister MoS for Health and Family Welfare between 2016 and 2019 and Commerce & Industry since 2021. She has been president of Apna Dal since her father’s death in October 2009. In 2012, she was elected as a Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly member from the Rohaniya constituency in Varanasi.
Another BJP ally from Uttar Pradesh, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary has reportedly been invited to attend the swearing-in ceremony. While Jayant Chaudhary did not contest elections himself, the RLD won two seats in UP, in Bijnor and Baghpat. Recently, a row had erupted on social media over Chaudhary’s seating at the NDA meeting. While various NDA allies shared the stage with PM Narendra Modi, Jayant Chaudhary was seated among the elected members of the NDA.
