Prime Minister >Narendra Modi’s first expansion of his Council of Ministers has his unmistakable imprint, with some difficult allies firmly put in their place and immigrants from other parties rewarded. In his quest for as coalition-free a government as possible, Mr. Modi evidently intends to use the BJP’s impressive electoral mandate to minimise the role of tantrum-throwing partners. And so, the Shiv Sena’s demand for a second Cabinet berth at the Centre and key portfolios in the Maharashtra government in exchange for its support were brushed aside, even as Suresh Prabhu from that party, an administratively experienced if politically marginal leader, was inducted into the BJP on Sunday morning and sworn in as Railway Minister hours later. Ex-Congress veteran Birendra Singh, who joined the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls, has been given not just Cabinet status but the key portfolios of rural development, panchayati raj, drinking water and sanitation. Ram Kripal Yadav, who defeated RJD boss Lalu Prasad’s daughter in Bihar on the BJP symbol — after being denied the RJD ticket — is now a Minister of State. Inderjit Singh Rao, who exchanged the hand for the lotus before the elections, had become an MoS with independent charge in the first round itself.
The expansion also reflects the fact that “minimum government” does not always produce “maximum governance”: the government has acquired 21 fresh faces, taking the strength of the Ministry to 66, as some overburdened senior Ministers have been relieved of additional responsibilities. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has shed defence, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad law, Shipping and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari rural development, and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar information and broadcasting. Of course, in acknowledgement of Mr. Jaitley’s status as Modi confidant and his skills as a communicator, he will also steer the I&B Ministry. The choice of new entrants also points to competing demands of inducting talent, increasing geographical and caste representation, and addressing the BJP’s core Hindutva constituency. If the entry of former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar as Defence Minister, the Harvard-educated Jayant Sinha as MoS for finance and Mr. Prabhu mark infusion of talent, the Ministry’s social composition has been enhanced — four more Brahmins, three of whom are in the Cabinet, two Jats to compensate for a non-Jat Chief Minister in Haryana, and more OBCs and Dalits. The only woman to be included, Niranjan Jyoti, is a saffron-clad sadhvi. And the controversial Giriraj Singh, a Bhoomihar from Bihar, had endeared himself to the new dispensation when he declared that all those who did not like Mr. Modi should just go to Pakistan.
