The race to be Modi's minister reveals the new BJP

A fourth term BJP MP who till a few days back appeared to be very confident of a cabinet berth, presiding over one of the ministries is now hesitant to talk about his prospects. He has done rounds to all the important places, he could, residence of party chief Rajnath Singh at 38 Ashoka Road, RSS Delhi headquarters at Jhandewalan and as also of other top leaders. But he couldn’t get access to Gujarat Bhawan and has so far not managed to speak to Narendra Modi. His initial enthusiasm has taken a dip but has still not left his hopes. He found solace in a philosophy that the politicians of his seniority don’t really love. “Now that we know that the size of Modi’s cabinet would be reduced, there will be less number of ministers. Under the circumstances ministerial post is not important. What is important is whatever one gets one should do it for the fulfillment of our party’s objectives and Modi’s vision.” [caption id=“attachment_1541599” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] Another former Union minister in the Vajpayee government, who otherwise was considered to be a sure ministerial prospect, too has gone through the same grind. He has seniority, prominence in the party, right social group origin and great connectivity. But he like so many others in his peers is unsure whether he would find himself seated in the designated row where ministers to be sworn in will be seated at 6 pm on Monday at Rashtrapati Bhawan. He and several others like him are living on hope to get a call either tonight or tomorrow morning. Yet another ministerial aspirant told Firspost, “Currently only two people know who is going to make it and who all will remain out of it. One as you would guess is of course, Modi, other is God, nobody else. I am only a normal human being, so the likes of me are obviously only making calculated guesses.” While laughing at his own cost, he also took a dig at the media, particularly on the breaking news culture. “One thing is sure that under Modi regime economy is going to boom but breaking news industry in journalism will go through the recession.” The popular mandate is for Modi and it is so absolute that any dissenting voice would have the threat of being swept aside, irrespective of their seniority and if their murmurs finding any chorus. A newly elected party MP said, “Why do you think all top leaders, members of Parliamentary Board looked so serious even in the greatest moments of happiness when they met and jointly came before the national and international media at party headquarters after the results were declared? They all knew the mandate was for Modi and from leaders in their own right, they had suddenly become cheer leaders.” Another senior leader and a former Union minister, gave another interesting spin to the way his own ranks have been behaving, disciplined than joyous. “We have suddenly become a very disciplined group as if we form part of some uniformed force. Election of Modi as parliamentary leader in Central Hall of Parliament was one historic moment for us where you otherwise heard loud cheers, people laughing, moving around, chatting endlessly among themselves. But once Modi arrived we all became so disciplined. It was nice to see that even our senior most leaders stood in queue to greet him, offer a bouquet. Nobody could afford to appear to be loose before Modi lest it harmed his or her own prospects. Disciplined and dignified is the new mantra.” No party leader is appearing on television for last few days. For now the task is left to the likes of Nalin Kohli and GVL Narshimha Rao. Arun Shourie, considered to be a sure ministerial prospect made an exception by giving a long interview to CNN-IBN, giving a peep into composition of the government and its downsizing model. “The former disinvestment minister can only talk of downsizing,” quipped another BJP MP. But has Shourie by doing so harmed his prospects, is being talked about at length in the party circles. Could it impact his portfolio, even if he gets a ministerial position? An answer to that will come on Monday evening. The perfectly styled dresses have either been dry cleaned or new dresses are stitched, they may even wear it on Monday evening but the moot question is how many of them will be on the podium taking oath of office. The position of alliance partners is no better or perhaps even worse. Gone are the days of NDA I and II, and UPA I and II when they got the number of ministerial berths according a fixed formula and the respective leaders. Allies will surely be welcomed to become part of the government but then there could not be any hard bargain. TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu for instance could become NDA convener but he was said to be clueless till at least yesterday evening as to how many ministerial positions he could get for the TDP at the Centre. Oldest ally, Shiv Sena is seeking four ministries. It had three in Vajpayee government but with increased strength it is looking for to add one more. Ramvilas Paswan would be a minister but he can’t get railways. Akali Dal can relax for it has already announced that it will stay away from the government. For the moment they all swear by Modi’s charisma and his capacity to think beyond beaten tracks, act on out of the box ideas like turning a swearing-in ceremony to a huge South Asia event with him in the focus. After swearing-in when BJP and NDA leaders would be worrying about portfolios, Modi would be taking care of India-Pakistan bilateral and Saarc multilateral.