PANJIM: Even as the buzz surrounding the induction of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar into the Union Cabinet continued, Parrikar after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, playing with a straight bat, pushed the induction ‘ball’ gently down the pitch, saying that this topic did not come up at all.
“He did not say anything about that (induction). We discussed issues related to the state,” he told the media after the meeting with the Prime Minister at the latter’s official 7, Race Course Road Residence in New Delhi on Wednesday evening.
Speaking to Herald he narrated the same thing he told the national media. However, when specifically asked whether the issue was closed he said, “How can I say that?”
Speculation that Parrikar would enter the Modi Cabinet and get the Defence portfolio dominated the media on Wednesday.
Currently, Arun Jaitley holds the Finance and Defence portfolios and according to sources Modi wants Parrikar for his administrative abilities and clean image, given that major defence modernisation projects are underway, and defence procurements have had bad press in the recent past. Parrikar is also one of the favourites of the RSS.
Earlier in the day Parrikar, along with state party president Vijay Tendulkar and organising secretary Satish Dhond, met BJP national President Amit Shah in New Delhi.
Parrikar was suddenly called to New Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and party president. He had just returned from New Delhi last week after meeting Union ministers to try and sort out the myriad problems facing Goa, especially in mining and environment as well find a way forward for future development plans.
Parrikar has been one of the most successful BJP chief ministers and has managed to make the party acceptable in a State with a substantial Christian vote, and is an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumnus. He first became chief minister in 2000.
The Defence Minister holds an important position in the government as he is part of the Cabinet Committee on Security which has the NDA’s big five as members: PM Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the Defence Minister, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Finance Minister Jaitley.
There has been talk that there could be an induction of as many as 10 ministers with names of Jat leader from Haryana Birender Singh – who met Shah, Giriraj Singh, an MP from Bihar, and G S Shekhawat, MP from Rajasthan, besides Parrikar’s name doing the rounds in the corridors of power in Delhi.
Other names include first time MP Jayant Sinha, son of former minister Yashwant Sinha, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Anurag Thakur, with sources saying that if the induction takes place, the first by Modi who assumed office in May after the general elections, it could be on Sunday given that the Prime Minister is scheduled to leave on a three-nation nine-day tour on November 11. The Winter Session of Parliament is scheduled to start from November 24.
