The appointment of the Council of Ministers on Sunday saw negotiations and conversation till the last minute, with various partners of the National Democratic Alliance speaking of their demands. Now that the swearing-in ceremony has happened, the Modi 3.0 government is officially in place with 30 Cabinet rank ministers, five Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and 36 Ministers of State. The Cabinet will hold its first meeting at 5 pm Monday. The portfolios, however, have not been announced yet. On Monday, the developments on this front will be closely tracked. The PM retained many of his old ministerial colleagues but as expected, the TDP (16 MPs) and the Janata Dal-United (12) have emerged as key players. Both of these parties have long governance experience in the United Front governments and the NDA government headed by Vajpayee. At this moment, the foremost question on everyone’s minds is this: Can Modi be a coalition-builder? Neerja Chowdhury, who is a Consulting Editor of The Indian Express, writes that Modi’s new Cabinet signals “continuity as well as caution”. Chandrababu Naidu has agreed to only one Cabinet Ministerial berth and one Minister of State (MoS) position despite having 16 MPs — the same number given to Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) despite its fewer (12) MPs. It remains to be seen if he will also demand the Speaker’s chair. Chowdhury writes that Modi will have to take along the allies who have insisted on a review of the Agnipath scheme, which emerged as an emotive poll issue in the northern states, and a change may be on the cards. The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is likely to be put on the back burner even as “one nation, one election” becomes trickier to implement. How the BJP deals with Nitish Kumar’s demand for a national caste census also is a question. Kerala Assembly begins After the Left Democratic Front’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls, the Kerala Assembly is set to convene Monday. In the results announced on June 4, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 18 seats. The ruling LDF could only get one seat, while the BJP managed to open its account in the state with the help of Suresh Gopi in Thrissur. In this scenario, it is expected that the UDF MLAs would attend the session with regained confidence and strength and will hit out at the Left and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. It also remains to be seen how the House will react to the BJP’s debut in the state. The session will continue for 28 days and will pass the state Budget. — With PTI inputs
