Hyderabad: Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan, 67, and Najma Hepthulla, 74, who were inducted into the Union Cabinet despite their age, disproved the theory that old members would not be inducted.
Meanwhile, TD circles are jubilant over the possible induction of another party leader into the Modi Cabinet after Mr Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who is presently the minister for civil aviation.
Mr Modi’s call to AP CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, who was in Delhi, on Thursday also fuelled the speculations.
Sources close to the TD Parliamentary Party said that Mr Naidu wanted two berths this time, one each for Telangana and AP.
Telugu Desam has one Lok Sabha member and three Rajya Sabha members from Telangana and Mr Naidu reportedly conveyed to the PM that if he was not taking Mr Dattatreya from Telangana, one berth could be spared for a Telugu Desam MP.
Though Venkaiah Naidu has been elected as an MP from Karnataka, he is being considered as representing AP. Similarly Nirmala Sitharaman was subsequently elected from the state.
