Cabinet Hopefuls Line Up at Narendra Modi's Doorstep

Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley, members of Mr Modi's core team, have just left the Jhandewalan office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS after meeting Suresh Soni and Bhaiyyaji Joshi. They spent the morning at Gujarat Bhawan with Mr Modi as he held meetings with party leaders and senior bureaucrats.

Cabinet hopefuls have been spotted at either one or more of those locations. BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain and Arjun Munda are meeting RSS leaders now. Others like Varun Gandhi, Uma Bharti, Najma Heptullah, CP Thakur, Anurag Thakur, Gopinath Munde and Vijay Goel visited Rajnath Singh's residence.  

Senior leader Sushma Swaraj visited Mr Singh's Ashoka Road residence and then drove down to meet Mr Modi at Gujarat Bhawan. Ms Swaraj, who is not close to Mr Modi, has reportedly said she would like a top cabinet post commensurate with her seniority. She was leader of opposition in the outgoing Lok Sabha, a cabinet rank position.

Former Telecom minister Arun Shourie  was spotted at Rajnath Singh's residence. Sources say Mr Modi is keen to hand Mr Shourie, who has distanced himself from the BJP for some years now, a top assignment in his cabinet.

Party chief Rajnath Singh, strategist Arun Jaitley and Mr Singh's predecessor Nitin Gadkari, all part of the BJP's new A team along with Mr Modi, are said to be in line for top portfolios. There is talk that Mr Jaitley could get finance or external affairs and Mr Singh, the home ministry.

It is not clear yet what role party veteran LK Advani will be given in the new dispensation. He is reportedly keen on being Lok Sabha Speaker, which is a constitutional post and so does not report to the Prime Minister.

Mr Modi has also met senior bureaucrats like the home secretary who have reportedly briefed him on their ministries.

Allies are meeting the BJP brass too. Bihar ally Ramvilas Paswan and his son Chirag, partner in Tamil Nadu Vaiko and Apna Dal leader Anupriya Patel, an ally in Uttar Pradesh, met Rajnath Singh today.  Naga People's Front leader and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio had met Mr Modi yesterday, as had the Paswans.

YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy is not an ally, but he too met Mr Modi, purportedly to discuss issues and concerns related to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Sources say leaders of YSR Congress also wanted the PM-to be to reassure them that his ally, Chandrababu Naidu, who will take over as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, will not persecute their leader on what they say are false charges of corruption.

Despite the long line of BJP leaders who have visited the RSS office, some more than once like Amit Shah, the BJP's ideological mentor insists that it will not interfere in the cabinet process.