Modi confidant Jagat Prakash Nadda may be next BJP chief

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, May 24, 2014: Jagat Prakash Nadda, BJP general secretary in charge of headquarters, has emerged as favourite to take over as BJP chief if incumbent Rajnath Singh joins the Modi government.

Sources said the low-profile Nadda has the support of the dominant section of BJP leadership as well as the RSS. He enjoys a close rapport with Modi, having worked him with him when the PM-designate was general secretary in charge of Nadda’s home state of Himachal. The two lived in the outhouse of the BJP headquarters at Ashoka Road. Nadda, who was minister for environment in HP, has also worked with Amit Shah, BJP ’s ’star’ general secretary, in the party’s youth wing.

TOI was the first to write (on May 19) that Nadda was a strong contender for the top job in BJP. Sources in the party said the Nadda-Amit Shah duo would be key to the plan to align the BJP with Modi’s priorities.

Even as clarity emerged about the possible change of guard in the BJP, there were few clues about the shape the Modi ministry might take. Sources said the situation would crystallize only on Sunday after Modi had held talks with allies. Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal and his son, deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, met Modi on Friday; TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu and Shiv Sena chief Udhav Thackeray are expected to meet him on Saturday.

On a day when Modi held joint and separate deliberations with Rajnath, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah, there were indications that BJP had almost finalized its own list of ministers, few party leaders had any clear idea about what was in store for them. Those desperately trying to read ministerial tea leaves included those who were considered a shoo-in for big portfolios on account of their seniority, popular estimate, and their own swagger on the day of Modi’s victory.