What's Next For Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Harsh Vardhan After Getting Axed From Union Cabinet

Assembly elections are to be held in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur next year. In such a situation, responsibility can be given to the leaders axed from cabinet in these states.

File Images | Ravi Shankar Prasad (L) , Prakash Javdekar (C) , Dr Harshvardhan (R)

Modi Cabinet Reshuffle: After the departure of 12 ministers including stalwarts like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, and Prakash Javadekar from the Union Council of Ministers, speculations are now being made about their political future. There is a possibility that some of them may be entrusted with other responsibilities in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) framework.

One Person, One Post

In the reshuffle and expansion of the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, five leaders holding various responsibilities in the party including BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav and National Vice President Annapurna Devi were made ministers.

Apart from these two leaders, the party's national secretary Vishweshwar Tudu, national spokesperson Rajeev Chandrasekhar and president of Tamil Nadu BJP L Murugan have been included in the Union Council of Ministers.

Tudu has been given the new responsibility of Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Jal Shakti, while Chandrashekhar has been given the responsibility of Electronics and Information Technology Ministry as well as the Ministry of Skill Development.

Murugan has been assigned Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, along with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Ministry of State. At present, he is not a member of either the upper or lower house, so he has to be elected within six months.

The principle of "one person, one post" is applicable in the BJP, so it is believed that a new person in the organisation can be given responsibility instead of the leaders inducted into the new cabinet.

BJP Parliamentary Board

There is a possibility that the excluded leaders, including Prasad, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, and Javadekar, may be given a meaty role in BJP's parliamentary board.

Apart from these three leaders, Thawarchand Gehlot, Santosh Gangwar, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Sadananda Gowda, Babul Supriyo, Debashree Choudhary, Sanjay Dhotre, Ratanlal Kataria and Pratapchand Sarangi have also been removed from the Council of Ministers.

Gehlot has been appointed as the Governor of Karnataka and with his resignation the post of Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha also became vacant. Gehlot has been a Dalit representative for a long time in the BJP parliamentary board, the highest policy-making body of the party.

According to the party constitution, the parliamentary board consists of 10 members in addition to the president. One of the party's general secretaries is the secretary of this parliamentary board.

But the current parliamentary board has only seven members. These include BJP President JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Organisation General Secretary BL Santosh. There are three vacancies in the Parliamentary Board.

At present, the BJP has eight general secretaries including Bhupendra Yadav, 12 vice-presidents including Annapurna Devi, and 13 secretaries including Tudu. JP Nadda formed his team almost 8 months after becoming the president of BJP in January 2020.

So far, after the inclusion of leaders holding various responsibilities in the party organisation, there are speculations that new faces can be included in the party.

However, when a senior functionary of the party was contacted regarding this, he said that "the president has the right to take any decision regarding the appointment of the organisation."

Responsibility Of Electoral States 

Assembly elections are to be held early next year in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur and it is expected that keeping this in view, some leaders including Prasad, Javadekar, Nishank, and Harshvardhan will be included in the organisation and the responsibility of the electoral states can be given to them.

Prasad and Javadekar have played an important role in the BJP in the past as well. Nishank has also been the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand while Dr Harsh Vardhan has worked as the President of Delhi BJP.