Hyderabad: Completely reversing early speculation, developments late on Saturday indicated that neither BJP general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao from Telangana state nor Mr Kambhampati Haribabu and Gokaraju Gangaraju from AP would find a place in Sunday’s reshuffle of the Narendra Modi Cabinet.
When contacted, Mr Haribabu said he did not have any information about his induction and he had not received an invitation.
Before leaving for Delhi on Saturday night from Visakhapatnam, Mr Haribabu said his visit to the Capital had nothing to do with the Cabinet reshuffle.
The BJP source said the seat vacated by Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, as desired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, would not be filled from Telangana state at least for some time.
Sources said a few administrative lapses including alleged corruption in the labour ministry had led to Mr Dattatreya being asked to step down from the Council of Ministers.
Regarding picking a Union minister from Telangana state, sources said the names of Mr Muralidhar Rao who hails from Karimnagar, Rajasthan water resources adviser Vedire Sriram who hails from Nalgonda and BJP Legislature Party leader G. Kishan Reddy had come up.
But it would be difficult to accommodate any of them to the Rajya Sabha from another state, though there is a clear vacancy in Rajasthan due to the resignation of Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu before he took oath as Vice-President.
Sources said TS would remain unrepresented for some time, which may leave the gate open to find a new political partner in the NDA.
Sources said Sunday’s reshuffle would be confined to the BJP, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to keep a few slots for the JD (U), AIADMK and other friendly parties.
