Poll calculations abound in expansion

A senior BJP leader pointed to poll calculations in Tuesday’s expansion of the Union Cabinet. “If you include Rajnath Singh, who is an MP from Lucknow but hails from Mirzapur, now represented by Anupriya Patel, the eastern U.P. area is very important. The social combination there, of Muslims, Brahmins and Bhumihars, makes it very competitive.

“Also, early phases of elections are from eastern U.P.; once the message of winning starts from there, a momentum builds. Therefore in the past, even though Mayawati is dominant in western U.P., if she wins the east, then she rules. Mulayam Singh Yadav too shifted to Azamgarh in the last polls to capture the area,” said the BJP leader. “PM Modi too chose to fight from Varanasi to send a message to eastern U.P.”

While the math for Uttar Pradesh appeared apparent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have done a delicate balancing act between party factions in his home State of Gujarat.

The induction of two prominent Patidar leaders from the Saurashtra region — Parshottam Rupala who is akadva Patel and Mansukhbhai Mandavia, a leuva Patel — into the Cabinet is meant to placate the Patidar community and also give importance to the Saurashtra region, where the BJP was almost wiped out in the local elections held last year in Gujarat.

Also, while Mr. Mandavia is considered close to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, Mr. Rupala is considered close to BJP chief Amit Shah.

Subtle calculations have gone into the inclusion of Ramesh Jigajinagi in the Cabinet, despite his seniority, and the additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs to Ananth Kumar.

BJP sources said that Mr. Jigajinagi, who won from the reserved Bijapur seat in North Karnataka, was the essential SC inclusion from the State, since CM Siddharamaiah banks heavily on his Alpasaankhyaka-Hindulidavaru-Dalitaru combination of Muslims and backwards. It was felt that by making B.S. Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat as the State unit chief, there should be a parallel effort to wean the backward communities away from the Congress. Mr. Ananth Kumar’s new assignment was also a nod at balancing the two factions in the State unit.