JOIN USEx-Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain to join Nitish Cabinet?
Facing flak for not fielding any Muslim candidate in the November 2020 Assembly elections in Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday fielded former Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain for the Legislative Council poll.
The election of Shahnawaz as MLC is a foregone conclusion as no other candidate submitted their nomination papers for the poll being held for the seat fallen vacant after former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi resigned as MLC following his elevation as Rajya Sabha member.
It is now widely speculated that Shahnawaz, who was a Union Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government (1999-2004), may soon join the Nitish Cabinet as soon as it is expanded, possibly this month.
Nitish has presently 13 members in his Cabinet, and, as per the Constitutional provisions, he could have a maximum of 36 ministers in his team.
The BJP wants to project its most prominent Muslim face in Bihar – Shahnawaz, so as to reap its benefits in neighbouring West Bengal where Assembly elections are expected to be held earlier than scheduled (in the next couple of months).
The BJP also wants to check Nitish's popularity among the minorities and has, therefore, played the Muslim card well by sending Shahnawaz Hussain to Bihar, who has never been into state politics in the last three decades. He was barely 32-years-old when he won from Kishanganj (on Bihar-Bengal border) as the BJP candidate and Vajpayee made him a Union Minister of State. He was later elevated to Cabinet rank and made Union Civil Aviation Minister.
Meanwhile, VIP chief Mukesh Sahni, who was reluctant to file his papers for the MLC poll, on Monday submitted his nomination papers after a snub from Union Home Minister Amit Shah. His election as MLC is also a foregone conclusion.