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10% faces in Modi Cabinet from North
Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 9
After “chai wala” Narendra Modi rose to become the Prime Minister, now a plumber-turned-politician and BJP’s Dalit face, Vijay Sampla, is part of the Modi’s expanded Cabinet. The region, which earlier had four ministers in the Union Cabinet, has got three more berths, taking north’s representation in the 66-member Cabinet to over 10 per cent.

Sampla is the second MP from Punjab to find a berth in the Modi Cabinet. With the inclusion of Birender Singh, Haryana has three ministers now. While Jammu and Kashmir is already represented by Jitendra Singh, Himachal Pradesh got its first minister in Jagat Prakash Nadda, who has stuck with the BJP since his student days at Shimla.

All inducted ministers have different backgrounds and represent various casts and communities. Birender Singh, a member of the Rajya Sabha is a Jat leader and lifelong Congressman, who served as Haryana’s Finance Minister in Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s first term in office.

Believed to be close to the Gandhi family, he quit the Congress to join the BJP prior to the Parliamentary elections. Somewhat credited with helping the BJP make inroads into Haryana, he preferred a Vidhan Sabha seat for his wife Prem Lata to contesting himself with a clear eye on the ministerial berth that has come his way today.

Sampla, who is a Dalit leader from the Doaba region of Punjab worked as a plumber in Saudi Arabia after he completed his matriculation. On his return to India he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1998 making baby steps into politics.

He contested and won from the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha. Modi’s move to induct Sampla has gone down well with the Dalits that are nearly one-third of the state’s population and is apparently aimed at appeasing the segment in view of the 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab.

The son of Himachal and currently party in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir, Nadda’s inclusion into the Cabinet was somewhat on expected lines as the state was unrepresented in the Modi Cabinet.

Besides, Nadda, a former MLA, was at one time being considered for the position of the party’s national president that finally went to Amit Shah. A close associate of Shah and believed to be in the inner coterie of Modi, Nadda was closely associated with the BJP’s last election in Punjab. Since his student days at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, Nadda has followed a simple life and worked hard for the party.

The Cabinet that already has Faridabad MP Krishan Pal Gurjar and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh has a third Haryanvi face with inclusion of Birender Singh.

Punjab lone MP from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal will now have a second Punjab MP in the Cabinet with the inclusion of Sampla. Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal will have one minister each with Jatinder Singh and Nadda representing the Himalayan states.

Modi who was himself BJP’s in-charge for these four north Indian states prior to his being picked up to become chief minister of Gujarat now has 7 ministers. Finance, Defence and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley too contested the Parliamentary seat from Amritsar, but lost. He too is considered to be from Punjab’s quota, putting Punjab and Haryana at equal footing. Haryana has the largest representation in the Union Cabinet from the north with 6 ministers having a direct linkage to the state. These are Sushma Sawraj, Birender Singh, Piyush Goyal, Gen V.K Singh, Rao Inderjit and Krishan Pal Gurjar.

Total ministers from region after expansion

Haryana: Krishan Pal Gurjar; Rao Inderjit Singh; Birender Singh

Punjab: Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Vijay Sampla

Himachal Pradesh: Jagat Prakash Nadda

Jammu & Kashmir: Jitendra Singh