The first cabinet reshuffle since the NDA came to power for the second time in 2019 saw several big omissions while an equal number of new entrants taking giant strides towards the power corridors of New Delhi. Meenakshi Lekhi, the two-time MP from the prestigious New Delhi constituency took oath as a Union Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Culture. According to experts well versed with the internal developments, Lekhi’s appointment to the upper echelons of the Modi government has been done so with Delhi in mind, as she could be projected as BJP’s Chief Minister(CM) face.
Visuals from inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan of 43 leaders including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Pashupati Kumar Paras, Bhupender Yadav, Anupriya Patel, Shobha Karandlaje, Meenakshi Lekhi, Anurag Thakur, who will be taking oath as part of Union Cabinet expansion,today pic.twitter.com/g1x2ssv0u8
— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2021
There is no denying that BJP has struggled against AAP in the assembly polls, in absence of a strong Chief Minister face. The party won only 3 seats in 2015 while it made little improvement in 2020, winning 8 seats.
While Arvind Kejriwal’s cauldron of misdeeds has filled up to the brim, owing to his pathetic COVID management and failure to create new infrastructure across the capital –the only party that can challenge his hegemonic rule still doesn’t have a credible face that has the backing of party cadre as well as the unit workers.
Kiran Bedi was a last roll of dice in the 2015 elections but she was at the wane of her popularity and couldn’t muster the votes. Manoj Tiwari momentarily took the baton but he could not either create the required aura to be projected as the CM candidate. Similarly, former Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, despite being connected with the politics of Delhi for decades, never really challenged the top position.
However, Lekhi, who through her 2019 contempt case forced Congress party scion Rahul Gandhi to tender an apology to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘Chowkidaar Chor hai’ jibe has the necessary firepower required to challenge Kejriwal.
Apart from her fearlessness, as an advocate, Lekhi has kept women’s issues especially domestic violence, family disputes and permanent commission for women in the Armed Forces in court. She has also been a part of the drafting committee of the Women’s Reservation Bill and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal). Along with this, she has also been associated with Swadeshi Jagran Manch — an organisation associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Lekhi is one of the most gifted BJP orators and as a leader, she has the uncanny ability to understand the pulse of the public. Despite being a popular public figure, the 54-year-old doesn’t shy away from taking to the streets to corner the opposition.
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Around 10 days ago, she sat on a dharna along with other Delhi BJP leaders at Jantar Mantar, alleging that the AAP government had faked the oxygen shortage to hide its own shortcomings during the peak of the second Covid-19 wave.
In 2017, Lekhi was honoured with the Parliament Lokmat Award as the Best Debut Woman Parliamentarian. She has the desired credentials to be dubbed the next CM candidate. With ample time to go for the next Delhi assembly elections, the Modi government has seized the opportunity and put her in the big leagues.
With the experience of working at the top level of the government, Lekhi is only going to rise as a leader and the eventual benefits could be reaped by the Delhi BJP state unit, which has been battling for footing for the last few years.