PM Modi, Amit Shah top the list of 100 most powerful Indians
New Delhi, Mar 30: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his trusted lieutenant BJP National President Amit Shah maintained their top positions in the list of 100 Most Powerful Indians published by Indian Express.
The two BJP leaders found their top slots in spite of the losses the party suffered in the by-elections, and some of its allies deserting the NDA.
Surprisingly, President Ram Nath Kovind’s name does not find mention in the list of 100. However, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is given the 58th rank.
The only non-political leaders who figure in this list are Chief Justice of India Dipak Mishra and Sarsanghchalak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dr Mohan Bhagwat. They both are placed at the 3rd and 4th rank respectively. The RSS Chief is included in this list because “he remains the most influential person outside the government”.
Among the other political leaders, two women politicians former AICC President Sonia Gandhi (5), and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee (6) were well placed in the list. Mamta is in the news for violence in West Bengal and for her efforts to forge a viable opposition alternative to challenge the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Among the other women politicians BSP Supremo Mayawati (14), MEA Sushma Swaraj (21), Defence Minister N Sitharaman (22), J & K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti (26), and I & B Minister Smriti Irani (39) are placed within the halfway mark while Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje finds herself at 53rd rank in the list.
Among the Union Ministers Home Minister Rajnath Singh is at 7th position followed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Nitin Gadkari (12), Dharmendra Pradhan (32), Piyush Goel (33), Ravi Shankar Prasad (38), Prakash Javadekar (56) also find the place in the list.
The BJP Chief Ministers who were included in the list are Yogi Aadiyanath, UP (9), Shivraj Singh Chauhan, MP (13), Devendra Fadanvis, Maharashtra (16), Dr Raman Singh, Chhattisgarh (54), Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana (57), and Vijay Rupani, Gujarat (76).
The non-BJP chief ministers in the list are Siddaramaiah, Karnataka (19), Naveen Patnaik, Odisha (3), Amarinder Singh, Punjab (31), N Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh (36), Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala (42), Nitish Kumar, Bihar (49), K Chandrashekar Rao, Telengana (52), and Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi (73).
Congress president and would be prime ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi figures at 11th position in the list while his lieutenants Ghulam Nabi Azad (59), P Chidambaram (67), Sachin Pilot (71), Omar Abdulla (72),Jyotiraditya Scindia (83) and Hardik Patel (99) are also included in the list.
Prominent personalities from industry, sports, cinema etc. including Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji, Virat Kohli, Deepika Padukone, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Salaman Khan, Amitabh Bachhhan, Rajinikanth, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Assaduddin Owaisi, Prashant Bhushan, Uddhav Thackeray, General Bipin Rawat, O P Rawat, Ram Madhav and Hasmukh Adhia find mention in the list.