SHILLONG/NEW DELHI: Tura MP from NPP Agatha Sangma has denied getting a berth in the BJP-led NDA Cabinet.
Speculation was rife that Agatha will be inducted as a minister of state.
“Speculation is there but there is no such thing”, Agatha told The Shillong Times on phone from Delhi on Wednesday on the eve of the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers.
According to Agatha, the BJP itself has more MPs and accommodating them will be the first priority.
“However, in whatever capacity, whether you are an MP or a Minister, you have to serve the people”, Agatha said.
Earlier in the day, chances of Agatha, the lone NPP MP from Meghalaya, getting a minister of state berth in Modi’s Cabinet, was bright.
Agatha is in national capital as she arrived for NDA MPs meeting in Parliament.
The name of Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and former Union Minister Kiren Rijiju are doing the rounds for the new ministry. There may be one minister of state from Assam where BJP fared well.
The two MPs elected from Manipur- BJP’s Dr RK Ranjan and NPF’s Dr Lorho S Pfoze, who attended the NDA meeting at New Delhi, are in the race for ministerial berths in the NDA-II.
NPF is a post-poll ally of BJP.
According to sources in the BJP, Modi’s new government is likely to have a lot of new faces. Though the leaders are still unable to predict anything on the formation of the government, at least three MPs from the North East are likely to be in the ministry.
There were only eight BJP MPs from the Northeast in the 16th Lok Sabha and the two junior ministers were Kiren Rijiju (Home Affairs) and Rajen Gohain (Railways).
This time, the BJP and NDA partners have managed to win 17 out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the North East.