BHUBANESWAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday retained two union ministers from the state - Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw - in the council of ministers in his third term and reposed confidence in Jual Oram who was part of the cabinet in his first tenure.
The three Bharatiya Janata party MPs from the state are expected to get plum portfolios given their stature and weighty ministries they were handling in the previous governments.
However, after a stellar performance of the BJP in the just concluded general election to Lok Sabha and Assembly, induction of only three ministers from the state in the Modi government 3.0 has come as a dampener.
Expectations ran high after the election results as the BJP swept the Lok Sabha election by winning 20 out of 21 Parliamentary constituencies and contributing significantly to the number required for Modi returning to power for the third time.
“We were expecting five or six MPs from the state will get representation in the union cabinet as the Prime Minister had inducted three ministers from the state in his second term when only eight BJP MPs were elected. It has come as a big letdown,” said a party leader on conditions of anonymity.
With BJP winning 240 seats, the Modi 3.0 government fell short of 32 seats for getting an absolute majority. Had Odisha not contributed significantly like few other states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhatisgarh, it could have spelt trouble for the saffron party. If Haryana with ten seats could get three ministers and BJP winning 14 out of 25 seats in Rajasthan can have four, Odisha deserves better, rued a supporter of the BJP.
Reasoning out the coalition compulsion, a senior leader of the party said, “The Prime Minister had to make a great balancing act and satisfy all coalition partners. We are still hopeful that justice will be done to the state at the right time.”