NEW DELHI, May 26 � The new Narendra Modi government which took over today does not have any representation from several states like West Bengal, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and some from the North East, reports PTI.
Only Sarbananda Sonowal of Assam and Kiren Rijiju of Arunachal Pradesh, both top BJP leaders from the respective states, represent the North East in the Council of Ministers.
Though there was some talk of inclusion of either of the two BJP MPs from West Bengal � noted singer Babul Supriyo or S S Ahluwalia, their names did not figure on the list of ministers. While Supriyo was elected from Asansol, Ahluwalia won from Darjeeling.
The BJP did not win any seat in Kerala, though its candidate in Thiruvananthapuram O Rajagopal, gave a tough fight to former Union Minister Sashi Tharoor, bringing down his victory margin from 99,998 votes in 2009 to a mere 14,501 this time.
There is no representation in the ministerial council from Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as well, although the BJP swept all the Lok Sabha seats in the two states in the general elections.
In the North East, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Sikkim and Tripura also remained unrepresented in the Council of Ministers.
Bihar has got five ministers in Modi�s ministry, as against none in the UPA-II.
With three Cabinet berths, one Minister of State (Mos)-Independent charge and one MoS in its kitty, the spotlight is back on the state where Assembly elections are due next year. The BJP-led NDA walked away with 31 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Madhya Pradesh has an equal number of ministers with Sushma Swaraj, Najma Heptullah, Narendra Singh Tomar and Thavarchand Gehlot being made Cabinet ministers.
