Amid rumours of reshuffle in the ministers from the BJP quota, top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader of J&K Ramesh Pappa has reached New Delhi as the party leadership wants to take him into confidence before taking any step.
“RSS prant pracharak Ramesh Pappa, who was in Srinagar for organisational work, has air-dashed to New Delhi for an unscheduled visit as the BJP leadership is mulling some changes in the Council of Ministers,” a source told Kashmir Post, adding that, “the high command wants to take the Sangh Parivar on board before finalising the new names in the ministry.”
Highly placed sources in the BJP said some ministers from the party’s quota were likely to be dropped to give a chance to young and honest faces as the saffron party was confronting with the problem of “credibility deficit” due to the style of functioning of some of the party’s nominees in the government.
“The unscheduled visit of the RSS’ prant pracharak to New Delhi has fuelled speculation about some changes in the ministry,” the sources said.
Currently, the BJP has eight Cabinet ministers, including the Deputy Chief Minister and Sajjad Lone (who belongs to People’s’ Conference), and three Ministers of State (MoS) in the Council of Ministers.
The sources said during his visit to Jammu on April 29 and 30, BJP national president Amit Shah and the RSS leadership had discussed the issue of inducting some young members in the Council from the party’s quota. “Due to political developments, especially the President’s election, the proposal was postponed,” the sources said, added that the BJP leadership had once again started work on it.
After the formation of the government with the PDP on March 1, 2015, the BJP had dropped two ministers — Sukhnandan Choudhary and Pawan Gupta — from its quota when Mehbooba Mufti took oath as the Chief Minister on April 4, 2016. Sham Chaudhary and Ajay Nanda were inducted as Cabinet minister and MoS, respectively, from the party’s quota.
Amid reshuffle talk BJP brass calls RSS leader to Delhi
