Tridib Raman | News Trust of India
The much-awaited reshuffle of the Union Cabinet is increasingly turning into an unsolvable puzzle. Delhi’s top leadership has neither been able to properly draft the farewell note for the old faces, nor correctly identify the new faces eager to take their place, nor assign any definite date to the reshuffle. Despite this, Delhi’s politics continues to get entangled in new complications every day. The latest matter concerns Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Despite all his performance reports, he could never become the apple of Delhi’s establishment’s eye. In the brand-new Modi government of 2014, he was loaded with heavy departments. Then, gradually, his political ambitions were continually pruned. By the time Modi 3.0 arrived, only the Road Transport Ministry remained with him. Earlier, speculation was rife that Delhi was working on a strategy to sideline him completely. When this noise rose, the Sangh swung into action. Nagpur stood firmly behind Gadkari. The Sangh’s clear view was: “Gadkari is a result-oriented minister, so he deserves a reward, not punishment.” After the Sangh’s firm stance, Delhi’s heart softened and a proposal was made that “Gadkari’s department should be changed.” Delhi’s intention was to shift him to a ministry of very low importance. But it is said that the Sangh chief took cognizance of the matter and advocated that “Gadkari should get a major ministry.” It is said that for this, he has suggested the Education Ministry. The Sangh says that “Gadkari can transform the Education Ministry too with his innovative and new thinking, just as he has done in the matter of the country’s road transport. He can also curb the paper leak issue, and due to his new experiments in the field of education, he can also win the hearts of the country’s Gen Z and Alpha.” Moreover, the Education Ministry is an important instrument for the Sangh’s own cultural and ideological expansion. Whenever a BJP-led government has been at the Centre, the Education Minister has always been of the Sangh’s choice. Therefore, it is believed that in the next reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, Delhi may accomplish this minor task of obliging the Sangh.
First-time Report Cards for Secretaries
Tridib Raman | News Trust of India
Since 2014, when Delhi’s establishment turned saffron, the bureaucracy has enjoyed a significant boost in stature. Narendra Modi has long granted the bureaucracy a free hand in governance, dating back to his Gujarat days, and has relied heavily on them, often more than on the political leadership. However, by the time ‘Modi 3.0’ arrived, the realisation dawned that excessive leeway and over-reliance were causing the country’s bureaucracy to become unbridled. Consequently, it was decided that a serious review of the performance of all central secretaries was essential. Until now, the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary P.K. Mishra would simply brief him about the secretaries’ performance, and on that basis responsibilities of senior IAS officers were decided or extensions given. But it is said that for some time, intelligence agencies have been sending inputs to the PM about the functioning of secretaries in certain departments and their money-making. After this, the PM decided in a meeting of his core officers that, based on IB reports and PMO assessments, a report card of the secretaries of all departments should be prepared, and only on the basis of this report card should their new responsibilities be fixed or service extensions considered. According to sources, after these report cards of the secretaries arrive, a major administrative reshuffle at the central level may be seen very soon.
Race to Show Work
Tridib Raman | News Trust of India
After the Gen Z protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, the central government has become quite cautious about its image. So all Union ministers and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states have been instructed by Delhi to “bring more aggression and transparency into their ways of working.” Delhi said that “mere announcements of development projects will not work; while making new projects, the Centre and states should ensure that ‘the project should be visual’, that is, the project should also look big and impactful. So that the message can be given to the public that the Modi government is determined to work for their interests.” Therefore, Delhi had directed all its ministers and chief ministers to prepare a presentation on their upcoming projects and show it to Delhi one by one. Recently, when Amit Shah was in Gujarat, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma went straight to Ahmedabad for this purpose. It is said that he gave this presentation to the Home Minister there itself. News also came of several other Union ministers and secretaries reaching Ahmedabad. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hastily announced an ambitious development plan of ₹3,200 crore covering 107 assembly seats of UP. Note that most of these 107 seats are those dominated by the SP and Congress.
Will the command change in Rajasthan?
Tridib Raman | News Trust of India
Tomorrow, that is Monday, the results of the Rajasthan local body elections are due. The elections for a total of 309 urban local bodies in Rajasthan were held in two phases on 9 and 11 September 2026. This is perhaps the first time that, on the lines of “One Nation, One Election,” the “One State, One Election” beat was followed and the elections of all urban local bodies in Rajasthan were conducted together. In a very surprising manner, 77 candidates won unopposed in these elections, without any electoral contest. The biggest beneficiary among them was the BJP, with whose support 44 won, while the Congress had to content itself with 17 seats. But these results are not any electoral glimpse; rather, it is being believed that in these local body elections the Congress is posing a stiff challenge to the ruling BJP in almost every ward. In the 150 seats of the capital Jaipur, most Congress-supported candidates are said to be leading. The most special thing is that in these local body elections, the share of young voters under 35 years of age was nearly 40 percent, and voting was also bumper. Perhaps this is why all parties gave priority to young faces. This election is indeed a major acid test for the state’s Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, because these local body elections are being held in urban areas, and urban areas are considered the traditional stronghold of the BJP. According to sources, Bhajan Lal Sharma has claimed before Delhi that in Monday’s results, BJP-supported candidates will win on nearly 75 percent of the seats, whereas the IB has told Delhi in its report that “the BJP’s victory figure may be less than 50 percent. Because on most seats, leaders supporting Vasundhara Raje are helping strong independent candidates instead of the BJP, in the hope that if the BJP is defeated in the local body elections, Bhajan Lal Sharma can be shown the door,” so that the path for the return of the heavyweight Vasundhara to power becomes easier. But Delhi has something else in mind. It does want to relieve Bhajan Lal, but does not want the return of a strong satrap like Vasundhara in his place. Delhi will find some other Bhajan Lal.
Country’s Best and Worst Chief Ministers
Tridib Raman | News Trust of India
A prominent national magazine recently conducted an opinion poll to select the country’s five best (top-performing) and five worst (ineffective) Chief Ministers based on public votes. It is worth noting that this magazine, which began its journey with independent journalism, has spent the last decade or so acting as a mouthpiece for the ruling establishment. While the selection of the ‘Best CMs’ proceeded smoothly, the top two spots on the list of ‘Worst CMs’ were occupied by Chief Ministers from BJP-ruled states. One of them is running his brand-new government in alliance with a partner party, and it is believed that the BJP’s Chanakya recently summoned him to Delhi and gave him a thorough dressing-down. The second saffron chief minister often remains in the headlines because of his conduct, behaviour and statements. Major incidents and accidents keep occurring daily in his state, so he is constantly under the scanner. Concerns are also widespread among his supporters regarding his exit and future. As soon as this cover story was designed and placed before the magazine’s editorial board and marketing department for inputs, the magazine’s business head became extremely upset. He said, “This won’t work. These are the very two states from where we collect crores in government advertisements for our magazine and channel. Once this story is published, these chief ministers will not even allow our marketing team to enter their respective states.” After a lot of back and forth, the magazine’s editorial board finally had to drop the “Worst CM” chapter from its latest issue.
Wandering Leader Seeks a Return Ticket
Tridib Raman | News Trust of India
This veteran politician of the influential state adjoining Delhi belongs to a political family. His father has also been the chief minister of the state several times. This gentleman, after circling almost every party, is currently parked in the BJP along with his family. When he began to realise that he was not going to get anything more in the BJP, he recently went to meet Congress organisation general secretary K.C. Venugopal. The two leaders held a long closed-door discussion. The leader said that “enough is enough; he wants to return to his old home, the Congress, and spend the rest of his political life there. For this he has no special demand from the Congress party; he only wants to contest the 2029 Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket. Till then he will put his full effort, along with his sons, into strengthening the Congress in the state.” K.C. assured the leader that “he would speak to Rahul ji about this once.” After this, K.C. summoned Deepender Hooda and sought his opinion on the matter. Deepender said, “He cannot be trusted. Even while remaining in the BJP he has got all his cases sorted out, so his purpose there has been served. It would be better to put him on a long hold for now, at least for one year; then we will decide what to do with him.”
New Work Culture in BJP
Tridib Raman | News Trust of India
A new work-culture framework is being prepared in the BJP. Until now, Prime Minister Modi generally did not intervene in the party’s policy matters or day-to-day decisions. The entire command was handled jointly by BJP president J.P. Nadda and the party’s Chanakya, Amit Shah. This is why J.P. Nadda often used to go to Shah’s house even for minor discussions. But ever since the BJP’s reins have been handed over to relatively young hands, Nitin Nabin, he has been told in clear terms that “he need not go anywhere for the party’s policy decisions; he should speak directly to PM Modi, meet him, and seek guidance.” Is this the emergence of a new BJP?