Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani confirmed on Thursday that BJP president Amit Shah has been inducted in the new Cabinet of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi.
In a tweet posted just hours before a meeting of top leaders from the party and allies at the PM’s home office in New Delhi, Vaghani congratulated Amit Shah on his “inclusion” in the new government.
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“I met and congratulated our torchbearer honourable Amit Shah-ji on his inclusion as a strong member in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-ji,” Vaghani said in a tweet posted in Hindi.
Speculation has been rife about Shah being part of the new government. Media reports indicate that the BJP chief might get either the Home or the Finance portfolio.
Shah becoming part of the Modi government would mean that the BJP will have to look for a new party chief.
The 54-year-old Amit Shah won the Gandhinagar constituency in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections. This was the first time that Shah was contesting for a Lok Sabha seat.
Earlier today, Modi and Shah reportedly met at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg to finalise the names for the ministerial berths.
Top leaders from the BJP and NDA allies received calls from the BJP chief asking them to reach the PM’s home office by 4.30 pm for a meeting. It is expected that the leaders will be briefed about their roles in the new government at this meeting.
The top names include a host of former Union Ministers, including Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the Gandhi bastion of Amethi in the Lok Sabha elections.
Other big names who received a call to meet the PM include Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Sadanand Gowda, Babul Supriyo, Prakash Javadekar and Muthkar Abbas Naqvi.
Reports say that Sushma Swaraj, too, received a call.
Among the top names from the allies were RPI’s Ramdas Athawale, Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel, SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal and LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan.
