Despite a clean sweep for the BJP in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had to put up a fight to get at least one MP from her state into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers. Renu Mittal reports.
Nihal Chand Meghwal, left, is the lone Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan to make it to Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers -- as a minister of state.
Meghwal almost missed out on being part of the ministry as Prime Minister Modi failed to include even a single name from Rajasthan despite Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje delivering a 100 per cent victory in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party won all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan.
Vasundhara Raje had been camping in the capital for the last 4, 5 days, meeting senior BJP leaders. She was keen that her son Dushyant Singh -- the MP from Jhalawar -- be made a minister.
On Monday morning when she discovered that not a single MP from Rajasthan had been included, she assembled all 25 MPs at Bikaner House to discuss the issue. It was felt the decision to not include an MP from Rajasthan would send out a wrong message in the state.
Sources said Raje spoke to senior BJP leaders and said she would face a backlash if she returned without any ministerial berth.
The last minute decision to include Nihal Chand Meghwal in the ministry was taken only after Vasundhara Raje insisted on it.
Sources said Modi wanted to get her to agree to bring Jaswant Singh back into the party fold.
Former BJP veteran Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party after he contested the election from Barmer as an Independent.
Colonel Sonaram Chaudhary (retd) had been brought into the BJP by Vasundhara Raje who made three trips to Barmer to ensure Jaswant Singh's defeat.
Meghwal is a Dalit MP from Ganganagar.
The Council of Ministers saw no representation from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.
