Waiting in the wings are young leaders who have proved their acumen as parliamentarians or electoral giant-killers — former BJP youth wing president Anurag Thakur, Nishikant Dubey, who has been impressive with forceful interventions in Parliament, Karnataka journalist-turned-politician Pratap Simha, son of Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje Dushyant Singh and Varun Gandhi.
Other claimants for ministerial berths also include Maharashtra MP Poonam Mahajan who replaced Thakur as the youth wing chief, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh and Heena Gavit, a doctor who defeated Congress veteran Manikrao Gavit.
Modi and party president have a problem of plenty and their dilemma, if any, will be on whether to pick youth over experience.
Picking a relatively younger MP without the experience of running a ministry could be counter-productive, in case of mishandling a tricky situation and potentially leave the party open to criticism.
