In a major development, it has been reported that Union Home Minister, Amit Shah has delegated all 21 divisions of his ministry, except the reporting of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), to the Ministers of State for Home Affairs, G. Krishna Reddy and Nityanand Rai of the BJP. Important portfolios, viz. centre-state division, Police-I (that looks after transfer postings of IPS officers), foreigners divisions and others, have been allocated to Nityanand Rai who is MP from Bihar. Officials said that this move was in sync with Prime Minister Modi’s appeal during a recent meeting to allot more work to the Ministers of State so that they also play a part in the functioning of the government and do not feel left out.
As per the order, Nityanand Rai, also the current President of BJP Bihar, has also been given charge of the women safety division, which came into being last year to focus on safety of women and children. He will also be in charge of the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Division which looks after anti-maoist operations. Besides this, he has also been given charge of disaster management and police modernisation divisions.
The allocation of important portfolios to Nityanand Rai, who has been elected from Ujiarpur in Bihar, clearly shows that BJP chief Amit Shah is grooming Rai for more important leadership roles in the future. We at Rightlog.in had stated earlier that Rai’s surprise appointment as a Minister of State was part of a long term strategy to groom him for future roles and effectively replace Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.
Amit Shah has chosen Nityanand Rai as his deputy in the Home Ministry. He is of the same disposition as that of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar; a quiet but dedicated leader, able administrator and who may not be the most visible face but certainly a talented one. It was exactly on account of these characteristics due to which Nityanand Rai had been chosen as the BJP’s Bihar unit president in 2016. His appointment had come at a time when BJP was disheartened after losing the state elections to the grand alliance in Bihar and was divided into several factions. He had been chosen against several senior leaders as Amit Shah had seen a ‘spark’. By enabling the BJP-led NDA to win 39 out of 40 seats in Bihar, Rai had successfully executed Amit Shah’s plan and ensured a complete rout of opposition parties in Bihar.
Now, the Muzaffarpur crisis has brought out the worst of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. It has severely damaged his image of a ‘Susashan Babu’. Being the CM of the state for more than 15 years certainly brings Nitish Kumar to the center of discussions over existing health facilities in the state. Several media reports have also exposed the poor conditions of government hospitals in Bihar, more specifically in Muzaffarpur where the Hospital was not only under-equipped but also showed years of perpetual mismanagement. On Sunday, TV reports said that hospitals are running out of beds in Muzaffarpur due to rising cases of encephalitis. The reports also suggested that the medical facilities at the state-run hospitals are not satisfactory and children are not given medicines on time, resulting in the high number of casualties. Even doctors have indicated towards these limitations. With this, Nitish Kumar’s popularity is set to decline dramatically. Bihar will definitely look for a change in leadership. It needs an able leadership and administration. In such circumstances, Rai seems all set to work towards the crucial leadership role and emerge as a possible Chief Ministerial candidate from BJP in Bihar in the years to come.