Amid Cabinet reshuffle buzz, Madhav to visit state today

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 20

Amid reports of a reshuffle in the Council of Ministers from the BJP quota, party national general secretary Ram Madhav is reaching Srinagar tomorrow for a two-day visit to the state.

After holding daylong deliberations at Srinagar, he will reach Jammu on September 22 for an interaction with party workers and also with leaders of some offshoots of the Sangh Parivar to review the performance of the government.

Ram Madhav’s visit is significant as he will be the third senior party leader to visit J&K in the span of a fortnight to review the performance of the coalition government. Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s four-day visit to the state from September 9 to 11 was followed by two-day visit of party general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal.

Both Rajnath and Ram Lal did not receive encouraging feedback about the performance of BJP ministers in the coalition. A delegation of Chamber of Commerce and Industries (CCI) had lodged a complaint with Rajnath against the BJP ministers following which the traders had called a strike on September 18 over the “non-performance” of BJP ministers and the “discrimination” against the Jammu region.

Sources said that before taking any decision on dropping some ministers, the BJP top brass had decided to depute Ram Madhav to get feedback. Ram Madhav had already discussed the J&K situation with RSS prant pracharak Ramesh Pappa.

Sources said that besides inducting some new faces, a reshuffle in the portfolios was also likely to take place.

The BJP, which won 25 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections from Jammu, has eight Cabinet and three ministers of state, including Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh.

Ram Madhav, who played a crucial role in forming the PDP-BJP alliance, is also likely to get the performance reports of BJP ministers from coalition partner PDP.

The sources said that during his stay at Srinagar, Ram Madhav was likely to meet Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to iron out differences on contentious issues such as Rohingya deportation and declaration of state holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh.

“The BJP is facing criticism in the Jammu region for its failure to convince its coalition partner to declare a state holiday on September 23 —- the birth anniversary Maharaja Hari Singh,” said a senior party leader, who did not wish to be identified. “The party leadership has appealed to Ram Madhav to take up the issue with the PDP leadership,” he added.

BJP may induct new faces 

• Before taking any decision to drop some ministers, the BJP top brass has decided to depute Ram Madhav to get feedback 
• Ram Madhav has already discussed the J&K situation with RSS prant pracharak Ramesh Pappa
• Besides inducting some new faces, a reshuffle in the portfolios is also likely to take place