Power circles in the national capital are agog with talks of an imminent Council of Ministers rejig after two sitting ministers were yesterday dropped from the Rajya Sabha nomination list of the ruling BJP.
Announcing 11 candidates for the June 18 RS elections, the BJP did not renominate Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Ravneet Singh Bittu from Rajasthan and MoS, Fisheries, George Kurian from Madhya Pradesh. The party instead backed national general secretary Tarun Chugh from MP and Haryana BJP incharge Satish Poonia from Rajasthan.
With Bittu’s omission from the RS list placing question marks on his continuation as minister, Chugh and former Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar’s names have begun doing the rounds as Cabinet hopefuls from Punjab quota.
With Punjab due to go to the polls in 2027, the state is expected to secure ministerial representation in the widely anticipated Cabinet reshuffle likely to take place before the monsoon session of Parliament. While Chugh will be entering the Upper House soon, Jakhar has not been nominated for the RS elections. However, sources point out that lack of a Rajya Sabha nomination does not essentially rule out Jakhar’s ministerial chances.
“Bittu was included in the Council of Ministers in June 2024 and brought to the Rajya Sabha later in August that year. 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 said, adding that the party was still working out its strategy for Punjab, where it has already placed its bet on Kewal Dhillon, a Jat Sikh, as the state unit chief.
With a Sikh in leadership role, the party may want to balance the equations with a Hindu face in the Cabinet. Chugh and Jakhar both fit the bill in this category with sources saying the saffron ranks may even include a Dalit or an OBC from Punjab in the Cabinet, given its recent strategy of getting OBC leader and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to actively campaign in the state.
Saini’s consistent Punjab outreach means the BJP is keen on building an umbrella coalition consisting of OBCs and SCs in the state with a Jat Sikh leader as state unit chief. Frequent meetings of senior BJP brass with dera heads in the state is part of this plan.
