In the last eight years, there is a lesson Lutyens’ media has learnt the hard way: Never try to read or guess Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mind. And if someone in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party tells you that he or she knows his mind, take it with a pinch of salt. Don’t write what they claim to know. They are good for intelligent guesses, at best.

When the BJP Parliamentary Board (read Modi) decided Saturday to nominate Jagdeep Dhankhar as the party’s vice-presidential candidate, no one was surprised. That’s because everyone was waiting for a surprise. So was the case with Droupadi Murmu’s presidential candidature. There were, of course, a few know-it-alls who were also betting on Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi as the next V-P candidate until Saturday.

Wisdom comes in hindsight in Modi era. Today we know why it couldn’t have been anybody other than Murmu and Dhankhar. The West Bengal Governor’s choice as the V-P candidate fits the bill so perfectly. What Yogi Adityanath is to BJP chief ministers, Dhankhar is to Raj Bhawan occupants across the country — a major source of inspiration. He might have given West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee more troubles than all BJP leaders combined could. In February, a senior bureaucrat in the state government shot off a letter to the Raj Bhawan, giving dates for the Assembly session to be summoned. The Raj Bhawan wrote back questioning his competence. Later, accepting the state cabinet’s recommendation to convene the Assembly on 7 March at “2 a.m.”, the governor tweeted, “Assembly meeting after midnight at 2.00 A.M. is unusual and history of sorts in making, but that is Cabinet Decision.” State chief secretary wrote to the Governor, urging him to change the time from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Raj Bhawan refused, citing the chief secretary’s competence to seek the said change. An upset Mamata Banerjee then called the Governor asking for the same, but to no avail. The state cabinet had to meet again and make another recommendation to the Governor to summon the assembly at 2 pm, instead of 2 am.

(With inputs from agencies)