Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday put to rest speculation on who was the No. 2 in the government by chairing a high-level meeting attended by senior ministers such as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and external affairs minister S. Jaishankar.
Government sources said Shah chairing the meeting was indicative of his growing clout in the Narendra Modi
government and the BJP in the aftermath of the resounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls.
Although the agenda for the meeting was not known, home ministry officials familiar with the functioning of the NDA government could not recall Shah’s predecessor Rajnath Singh having led such a session. “The meeting chaired by Shah is a clear signal that he is the No. 2 in the government,” said an official.
Among those present were petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, railway and commerce minister Piyush Goyal and Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.
Earlier in the day, Shah met home secretary Rajiv Gauba and senior security officials over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir
Sources said Shah discussed redrawing the long-pending delimitation of constituencies in the state, where Assembly polls are due.
Valley rivals Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti opposed such a move.
“If delimitation is implemented in Jammu and Kashmir, it will automatically lead to an increase in the number of seats from the Jammu region. The move may open the door for a Hindu chief minister,” said an official attached to the Jammu and Kashmir division of the home ministry.