Amid speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could go for a Cabinet expansion and reshuffle soon, reported remarks by BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe have created a controversy.
Amid speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could go for a Cabinet expansion and reshuffle soon, reported remarks by BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe have created a controversy. The BJP leader was quoted saying that the ruling party has a “smaller talent pool” compared to the Congress.
“Compared to the Congress, we have a smaller talent pool and less exposure, but it’s only a matter of time that we expand our base,” Mr Sahasrabuddhe was quoted as having said by an international news agency.
The report quoted him as having made these remarks in the context of the likely overhaul of the Cabinet being planned by the PM to “weed out under-performers and improve his government’s image” but that “he can’t find the right replacements”.
Mr Sahasrabuddhe, however, later clarified, saying he was “misquoted” as he had spoken about the BJP’s “limited exposure” and not talent compared to the Congress.
“I have been misquoted. It is the Public Policy Research Centre which I have been supervising for years before it came out with some kind of a study about how the BJP’s performance in government is far better than any other political party’s government. So the question of limitation of talent certainly does not arise... What I was actually trying to explain to the reporter was that the BJP has been in power at the Centre for a limited period of time and there was a shortage of exposure. I was talking about this limited exposure not talent,” he said.
Taking a swipe, former Union minister Manish Tewari of the Congress said the BJP leader had only articulated what was the truth.
