Modi, BJP top brass snub State MPs

The BJP MPs from Karnataka camping in the national capital packed their bags and left for Bangalore on Tuesday, having apparently been snubbed by PM designate Narendra Modi over ministerial berths. 

A host of leaders, including former chief ministers B S Yeddyurappa, D V Sadananda Gowda, newly elected MPs Suresh Angadi and  Shobha Karandlaje, and Rajya Sabha member Ayanur Manjunath had been camping here for the past few days, lobbying to get ministerial slots by meeting top party leaders.

However, following a cold response from the party top brass, the MPs left for Bangalore soon after the Parliamentary Party meeting, and are likely to return to Delhi only on Monday to attend the Central Cabinet's swearing-in ceremony in the evening. Karnataka Bhawan, which had been seeing hectic activity, with MPs and their supporters camping there for the past few days, wore deserted look on Tuesday evening. 

When a delegation of State BJP leaders met Modi on Sunday in Gujarat Bhawan, adjacent to Karnataka Bhawan, he is learnt to have told them not to lobby for ministerial berths, adding that there was no point in it. He had not encouraged such lobbying even in Gujarat,. 

Saying that there is nothing in ministerial posts, Modi reportedly asked the MPs to focus on strengthening the party in the State, as improving the prospects of the BJP in the southern states is quite necessary. 

The MPs' contributions are very much needed to strength the party, he reportedly said to the delegation, which also included senior leader Ananth Kumar and state unit president Prahlad Joshi. 

The contingent of the BJP MPs from Karnataka, who came to the national capital to register with Lok Sabha and attend the Parliamentary Party meeting, are learnt to have been addressed by party veterans too. 

“The party is aware of the strength of each leader, and decide accordingly on who to induct,” senior leaders reportedly told the State MPs.

An MP from Karnataka who is a strong aspirant for a ministerial post told Deccan Herald, “I know Modi for many years, but it is difficult to read his mind and decision. Continuing lobbying might be counterproductive.” 

It is learnt that a team from the party is already on the job of who to induct into the Cabinet; it has started scanning the bio data of each leader and is also studying whether any person has cases registered against him or her or faces corruption charges.