Sanwar Lal Jat likely to take oath as MoS

JAIPUR: Ajmer MP Sanwar Lal Jat on Saturday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inviting him to be in the union ministry that would be reshuffled and expanded on Sunday afternoon.
Jat reached New Delhi late Saturday night after meeting chief minister Vasundhara Raje in Jaipur earlier in the day. Talking to reporters here, Jat said, "I shall work with the PM in the same manner I worked (as a minister) with chief minister Raje here.I thank the PM (for considering me)."
It was the chief minister who lobbied for the Ajmer MP as he had defeated Congress state president Sachin Pilot in the general elections. Jat had to forgo his cabinet post in the state to fulfill Raje's wish to defeat Pilot and dent the Congress's morale further in Rajasthan. Sources said BJP senior leader Om Mathur, too, lately gave his nod on Jat's name.
Whether Jat gets considered for a cabinet post would depend on who among his community leaders from Haryana join the Modi ministry. BJP state leaders believed the Ajmer MP was more likely to get inducted as minister of state with independent charge.
Rajasthan was currently represented in the Modi government by Ganganagar MP Nihal Chand as minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers. In case Chand is dropped from the ministry following the rape charges against him, another Dalit MP from the region Arjun Ram Meghwal could be inducted. Meghwal, a former bureaucrat, is a second-time MP from Bikaner.
Jaipur rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the other probable candidate to be included in Modi's team, denied receiving any communication from the PMO or the party leadership about the cabinet expansion scheduled on Sunday. "I am meeting people at Jamwa-Ramgarh (on Jaipur outskirts) in my constituency as part of the 'saansad aapke dwaar' (MP at your doorstep) programme. So far I have not received any communication about the cabinet expansion," Rathore told TOI in the evening.
Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who was preoccupied in series of BJP meetings in Jaipur to shortlist candidates for the Jodhpur Municipal Corporation elections slated on November 22, too, denied receiving any call from the Centre about the cabinet expansion. Shekhawat was thought to be in the reckoning in case Rathore were denied a ministerial berth yet again. The Olympian was in contention also at the time of Modi government's formation in May. Hariom Singh Rathore, the Rajsamand MP, denied receiving invitation to MP's tea ahead of the oath-taking. Sonaram Chaudhary, the Barmer MP who too was said to be in consideration, returned to his constituency on Saturday.