Shantanu Thakur may get a berth in the cabinet of the Narendra Modi government this time, sources say. According to sources, as the buzz about the PM’s cabinet reshuffle is making rounds all over, MP Shantanu Thakur has been summoned to Delhi.
Shantanu Thakur is scheduled to hold a meeting with the central leaders in Delhi on Tuesday, sources said. Before the assembly elections, the BJP turned a blind eye to the Matua vote. However, three weeks ago, there was a lot of speculation about the political position of Shantanu Thakur, one of the leaders of the Matua community.
On the day of Mukul’s return to the Trinamool, three MLAs were absent from Dilip’s meeting in Bangaon. MP Shantanu was not there either. And that is where the speculation culminates. Why did he avoid the meeting? Missing MPs and MLAs did not respond.
Before the vote, Shantanu Thakur was upset about the non-implementation of the CAA.
At the center of this caste vote-bank politics is the Matua community— a scheduled caste group with a population of over 3 crore across the state, influencing over 70 assembly constituencies, and spread across the districts of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, and other smaller pockets of North and South Bengal.
Moreover, West Bengal has 10 out of its 42 parliamentary constituencies reserved for the scheduled castes and has the second-highest SC population in the country.
Amid this, it is heard that this time Shantanu is going to get a place in Modi’s cabinet. Some BJP leaders have said that BJP MP Nishith Pramanik from West Bengal is also likely to join the cabinet. The BJP has done well in the last Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assembly elections. Nevertheless, political analysts say, Thakur’s place in the cabinet is his ‘much-awaited’ reward.