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RELATIONS

set by Shah would be difficult to meet be to keep the allies of NDA in good BJP nominees
by his successor. In fact, it will be a huge humour too. Besides Shah, the new members
challenge for the successor. J.P.Nadda, from the BJP include Prahlad Joshi, for-
a former three-time Himachal MLA, is Allies to join mer Chief Ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal
known for his proximity to Shah and was Nishank and Arjun Munda, while party’s
brought in as secretary of the BJP central Among the allies, Lok Janshakti Party UP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey makes
parliamentary board in 2009 by the party chief Ram Vilas Paswan retained his a comeback into the Council of Minis-
president Nitin Gadkari. In the recent LS place in the Cabinet, as did Harsimrat ters and has been elevated to Cabinet
polls, Nadda supervised the party’s or- Kaur Badal of the SAD. Harsimrat Kaur rank, as was Giriraj Singh, who was MoS
ganisational machinery in Uttar Pradesh, Badal has now become the only nomi- (Independent Charge) earlier. Former
where it won 62 of the 80 parliamentary nee from Punjab to find a place in Union Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar was the
constituencies. His strategy worked and Cabinet for a second consecutive term. lone surprise inductee into the Cabinet,
the “mahagathbandhan” could not pose Arvind Sawant, who defeated Milind De- becoming the second former rank-
a major hurdle to BJP in Uttar Pradesh. ora in South Mumbai, made it from the ing Indian Foreign Service officer to be
The next BJP chief will need to lead the Shiv Sena quota. There was no represen- drafted into the new team led by Modi.
party in the state elections in Haryana, tation from Tamil Nadu. Tamil-speaking Modi has retained former diplomat
Maharashtra, and Jharkhand this year Nirmala Sitharaman, who took oath as a Hardeep Singh Puri as Minister of State
and in Delhi in 2020. However, the ma- Cabinet minister, represents Karnataka (Independent Charge).
jor task for the new BJP President would in Rajya Sabha. Missing among the Cabinet minis-

President, Ram Nath Kovind administering the oath of office of the Prime Minister to Narendra Modi,
at a Swearing-in Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi

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