A tip for newly-elected NDA-2 Cabinet aspirants wondering if they will be ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second government – a phone call from one of the BJP’s top two is all the confirmation they need that they are “through”.
Sources say PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will be the only two leaders dialing lawmakers to inform them they will be ministers.
Both the leaders met for five hours on Tuesday evening to finalise names of those who would be sworn in along with PM Modi on Thursday.
On Saturday, PM Modi had warned all lawmakers of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to avoid falling for rumours and speculation, and also be wary of fake calls summoning them to Delhi, asserting that “ministers are not decided on the pages of a newspaper”.
At least one name from the previous government will be missing; Arun Jaitley, who was finance minister in NDA-1 has written to PM Modi requesting him not to give him any responsibility in the new government. “I am writing to you to formally request you that I should be allowed a reasonable time for myself, my treatment and my health and therefore, not be a part of any responsibility, for the present, in the new government,” Mr Jaitley wrote in the letter that he also tweeted.