With Amit Shah Likely Joining Modi Cabinet, Who’ll Be BJP Prez?

The names of JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan are doing the rounds as the possible contenders for the BJP top seat.

(Photo: The Quint)

Following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) landslide victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, party President Amit Shah is rumoured to receive a significant post in Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi’s Cabinet.

Shah, credited as the party’s chief strategist, was fielded from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat and won by a margin of over 3,00,000 votes.

Amid speculation whether Shah will be handed the Finance or the Home Ministry, the names of JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan are doing the rounds to fill his shoes in the party.

According to a report by The Times of India, the names of these two BJP leaders were discussed as possible replacements, amid “unanimity that filling his boots would not be easy.”

JP Nadda

Union Minister for Health and family Welfare in the previous Modi government, Nadda is a Rajya Sabha MP from Himachal Pradesh.

A Parliamentary Board Secretary in the party, Nadda was also said to be the man to replace Rajnath Singh as the BJP president in 2014.

Nadda was first elected to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly in 1993 and again in 1998. In 2007, he was allotted the Forest and Environment Ministry in the state government and served from 2008-2010.

He is dubbed a “master strategist” and the BJP had made him in-charge of Uttar Pradesh in the crucial 2019 polls. Despite the SP-BSP alliance, the BJP managed to bag 62 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Dharmendra Pradhan

A member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Dharmendra Pradhan has been associated with the BJP since his college days.

He was the Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship in Modi’s first term. While BJP’s victory in the 2014 elections has largely been attributed to Pradhan’s strategic planning, he has also played a key role in spearheading the party’s rise in his home state of Odisha.

His strategic announcement of a dal-salt-rice package for the 3.26 crore people covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA), paled in comparison to the BJD’s Kalia scheme.

The decision is expected to be made official on Thursday, 30 May, when Narendra Modi and his Cabinet will take oath.

(With inputs from The Times of India and Quint Hindi.)