Youth brigade gets mixed hand, Jaipal shunted from oil
Salman Khurshid and Pawan Kumar Bansal emerged as the two big winners from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s revamp of his Council of Ministers on Sunday.
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Mr. Khurshid, the new External Affairs Minister, is now in the charmed circle, entering the key Cabinet Committee on Security and becoming a part of the big four in the government, along with those who hold the Finance, Home and Defence portfolios. Mr. Bansal, the first Congress Railway Minister in 17 years (if one omits C.P. Joshi’s one month), will now preside over the reforms the lifeline of the economy is crying out for.
But Sunday’s reshuffle also saw a significant loser: S. Jaipal Reddy’s move from Petroleum and Natural Gas to Science and Technology is being read by his friends as a punishment for his standing up to a major industrial house; by his detractors as his just deserts for holding up decision-making.
Facelift
In his attempt to give his government a facelift — “hopefully, probably … the last reshuffle” in the run-up to 2014 as the Prime Minister described it — he sent out four key messages: one, he was willing to give major responsibilities to younger ministers; two, he was keen on moving reforms forward; three, he sent a positive signal to Andhra Pradesh, inducting five ministers and elevating a sixth to the Cabinet to counter the negative impact of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s growing influence and the Telangana movement on the Congress base in the State. And, four, by appointing a Muslim foreign minister, he underscored India’s essential plurality. Asked about his objective in the changes made, the Prime Minister said he had tried to put together “a combination of youth, experience and relevance of portfolios.”
North-east, east draw a blank in Cabinet
But there was a key omission: for the first time in perhaps decades, there was not a single face in the Cabinet from the north-eastern States and West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, though these States have voted in 29 Congress MPs.
Of the fresh faces, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Ajay Maken is 48; Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju is 50. Similarly, four of the new Ministers of State given independent charge of key portfolios are young: Jyotiraditya Scindia, 41; Manish Tewari, 47; Sachin Pilot, 35; and Jitendra Singh, 41 — they hold Power, Information and Broadcasting, Corporate Affairs and Sports and Youth Affairs respectively.
Reforms agenda
The Prime Minister’s choice of new ministers for key economic portfolios, a senior official said, points to a determination to see the reforms agenda move forward. With the Railways back with the Congress, Mr. Bansal is seen as the right man to make it once again “the engine for economic growth.” For Mr. Scindia, a key challenge will be to implement a recent Cabinet decision — persuade the State governments to adopt the new restructuring formula before the State Electricity Boards’ debts are written off. Mr. Pilot will have to push through the Companies Bill in the coming session of Parliament to bring in the much-needed reforms in the corporate sector.
All eyes on Moily
There have been significant changes in the Cabinet too: all eyes will be on M. Veerappa Moily, who has been shifted from Power and Corporate Affairs to Petroleum and Natural Gas, to detect changes in style and substance.
Kamal Nath, who has got Parliamentary Affairs in addition to Urban Development, will be on test: will he be able to use his considerable people skills to get Parliament to function and key laws passed? Kumari Selja, who moves to Social Justice and Empowerment, will now get the chance to get her teeth into an area she deeply cares for.
Of the 22 who took the oath the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s spectacular Ashoka Hall, there were 17 fresh faces, including two in the Cabinet, K. Rahman Khan (Minority Affairs) and Chandresh Kumari Katoch (Culture). Ms. Katoch’s appointment is a two-in-one — she is currently an MP from Rajasthan (she is the sister of the Maharaja of Jodhpur), but has done most of her politics in Himachal Pradesh, which will go to the polls soon. Five Ministers of State were also promoted Cabinet Ministers — Dinsha J. Patel, Ajay Maken, M.M. Pallam Raju, Ashwani Kumar and Harish Rawat. Mr. Patel has been elevated with the forthcoming Gujarat Assembly elections in mind, as has been Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki’s promotion as Minister of State with independent charge of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Tharoor back
Shashi Tharoor, who was forced to leave the government under a cloud of controversy in 2010, is back as Minister of State in the Human Resource Development Ministry. Another entrant from Kerala is K. Suresh, a five-time MP who heads the SC/ST forum in Parliament.
From Andhra Pradesh, the five fresh Ministers of State are K. Chiranjeevi (independent charge of Tourism), K. Surya Prakash Reddy, S. Sathyanarayana, Balram Naik and Kruparani Killi. West Bengal has got three new Ministers of State: A.H. Khan Choudhury, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Deepa Dasmunsi — the last two are seen as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s most vigorous critics.
From the north-east, there are two Ministers of State — Ranee Narah from Assam and Ninong Ering from Arunachal Pradesh; and one from Rajasthan, Lalchand Kataria. The only ally to figure in the expansion is Tariq Anwar from the Nationalist Congress Party, who will be Minister of State in the Agriculture and Food Processing Ministries.
Keywords: Cabinet reshuffle, Manmohan Singh, UPA government
In Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet V.K.Krishna Menon was Minister without portfolio for some time, if I remember correct. Since bulk of the work in the area of corporate affairs is handled by official regulators requiring not much ministerial dynamism, can Mr.Pilot be deemed to be VKK Menon's modern avatar !?
Mr.Kejriwal's star seems to be such that whenever he targets a person in the government,that person becomes eligible for a promotion as in the case of Mr.Salman Kurshid! As against this,whenever he targets a person in the Opposition,that person becomes fit for a probe being instituted against him like Mr.Gadkari! Those who are not yet targeted by Mr.Kejriwal would be sitting with fingers crossed musing over the Tamil saying : 'To one's left or right whichever side the fox goes,it does not matter as long as it does not pounce upon one direct'!
Some of the dropped ministers were saying they were proud of working for the congress organisation. If they really liked working for the organisation, they should not have accepted ministrial post,just as Rahul Gandhi did. When a minister said he resigned because he wanted to make way for younger blood, Was not telling the whole truth. There was charge sheet filed by Lok Ayukta implicating three cheif ministers.Perhaps, Mr.Krishna was most unfortunately one of them.
Regarding transfering of Mr.Jaipal reddy from Oil petrolium ministry and BLIND promotion of Mr.Kurshid as Foreign minister,I share the views of the majority of readers who have expressed their displeasure.
Its appalling to see a person who has been accused in a corruption case and has
openly threatened a citizen has now been promoted to a higher ministry. Congress
has committed another big mistake by ignoring the people of this country.
There isn't any bias, when ministers are appointed. Mr. Chidambaram
can be made any minister, so can Mr. Sibal, so can Mr. Antony. The
idea might be, that some Lok Sabha members make good ministers,
generally. I agree, doesn't everyone? Should every Lok Sabha member,
be made a minister for sometime? Would Mr. Kejriwal not object, if he
felt Mr. Antony should not be minister, and someone he feels certain
is a criminal, does become? And, Mr. Kejriwal would be in Mr. Antony's
shoes, if he became important in the Lok Sabha. It seems, people want
the legislators that they are not doing anyone a service, because no
Indian is doing a service, despite the service sector.
Your editorial is a correct analysis of the cabinet reshuffle which
raised high hopes that this time it wil be dynamic and
purposeful.Unfortunate is the down grading of Jaipal Reddy which clearly
shows that the industry is actually running the government and thos who
cross swords with Reliance will come to grief
The reshuffle of ministry of Manmohan singh has not changed its satus, same old Namk haram's are being given post or elevated to the higher post.Youngster's have not been given proper inportance or recognitions, hence standard of work system, efficiency of the ministry will not improve.If this is the status, what for reshufling wanted at this hour.Hope youngster's was not given chance because they may change whole system and may be the problem for looters, corruption minister and corrupt ministers, smugglers, Black money holders etc., etc.Most unfortunate thing is, we cannot expect any improvement in any field with the present set of Ministers, Government. Now it is time for the public,s, voters to decide about change of Government, and change is must for the benefit of India, If at all needs good, honest and sincere Government, must not elect the same congress party, same old politicians, same old ministers.
The highly touted reshuffle has at last happened.Mr Manmohan is
fortunate to get Manish et al.Congress loses a spokesman who can undo
the damage from any scam.Now the team will be dynamic.Expect more
reforms. More scams.Manmohan may rule out further reshuffle before
elections.But further outbreak of scams will prove him wrong. Mangomen
deserve better govt
Salman should be pinching himself. He was threatening IAC persons about
bloodshed etc like a goon. Now he is the Indian face amongst diplomatic community.
Moral of the story is be corrupt, but keep your party chief happy.
INDIA under UPA government is on a mission to tarnish countries image.
Central Minister Jaipal Reddy is shifted from the Petroleum and Natural gas portfolio, presumably, as part of a rigorous exercise of face-polishing for the Cabinet. There was report that he would have to move under pressure from a major industrial house. For the common man there are two factors that worry him. Firstly, he never expected that a Minister, who resisted the Reliance power and saved the exchequer thousands of crores of rupees and brought the giant under the scrutiny of the CAG, ever existed in the corruption-filled Manmohan Singh government. Secondly, it is seen that, in no time, Reddy is divested of his powers over RIL, commensurate with Congress and UPA traditions, as if in a challenge to the poor voter.
It is difficult to understand that the person, who threatened Mr. Kejriwal to terminate him, is promoted from the Law ministry to foreign ministry. Khurshid has also charges of financial malpractice in NGO of handicapped fund. It may be because dynasty congress wants to appease the Muslims community or the congress might want Khurshid type of stained personalities who has power and influence to scare opposition by talking about blood bath, fund laundering and pollute the society by corruptions, scams. The level of corruptions and scams we are facing today is groomed since Jawaharlal Nehru time. Same tradition the dynasty congress is showing by promoting Salman Khurshid.
The reshuffle is not on development. It is on muscle power, to encourage more corruptions, scams to win next election.
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