What went wrong? VK Singh lost Doner to MoS for personnel Jitendra Singh

NEW DELHI: For the last five months, MoS for Home Kiren Rijiju was the de facto minister for Department of Northeast Region (Doner), with NE groups flocking to him than VK Singh, who lost the portfolio on Sunday.

“They (north-east) relate to him (Rijiju)…they see him as their man in Delhi,” a source close to Rijiju told ET on Monday, admitting that it came as a surprise that Doner was not added to Rijiju’s workload after Singh was divested of the same.

“The fact is that Singh had no time for Doner or meeting northeast groups regularly. Hence, they flocked to Rijiju who threw his doors open to them,” the source said. The MP from Arunachal Pradesh has a busy schedule with 40-50 appointments in a day, mostly with groups from the northeast who come to him with requests and schemes many of which have little to do with his profile as the junior minister for home.

From 10 am till 7 or even 8 pm, Rijiju has visitors. Major announcements for northeast have come from Rijiju.

In Sunday’s reshuffle, VK Singh lost Doner to MoS for personnel Jitendra Singh. “I will do justice to Doner…the northeast is a priority area for the PM,” he said. However, Rijiju’s workload at the MHA is set to be lightened with a second MoS joining on Tuesday in Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary.