Why I feel Modi will not move Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Centre

The massive mandate won by the BJP in Uttar Pradesh has had an impact in Madhya Pradesh too. A day after the results, a theory that has been around ever since Narendra Modi took oath as PM — that he will shift MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to the Centre — resurfaced after being buried for a few months.

Besides the UP results and the PM emerging politically stronger, the vacancy at the Union Cabinet caused by the resignation of defence minister Manohar Parrikar was the other reason for the theory to gain prominence again. However, moving Chouhan to the Centre seems unlikely — as of now. And here is why.

Moving Parrikar to the Centre has not been a good experience for the BJP in Goa where the party lost the elections. It may manage to pass the floor test ordered by the SC, but the party has returned with a considerably lower tally. Why would the PM then want to move another apparently popular CM and risk slipping MP out of the BJP kitty?

Chouhan’s popularity in MP seems intact. The party has not only been winning at the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections but even at the municipal level with the party controlling all 16 of the municipal corporations in the state. Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha bypolls have also gone the BJP’s way consistently.

The next round of inductions at the Union cabinet will take place before the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Karnataka and the inductees will come from the states. Elections in MP are due in November 2018 and the state is fairly well represented with the Lok Sabha Speaker and seven other ministers from the state of which three are outsiders.

There are a total of 40 MPs from the state and more inductions would be difficult. Political watchers in MP suggest that if at all the CM is moved to the Centre, it may happen only after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, once the state elections are over too.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Also read: What Manohar Parrikar’s exit means for the defence ministry

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