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 Something
old, something new in recast Team Manmohan
The long awaited reshuffle of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
council of ministers Tuesday saw changes in some major portfolios
with Salman Khursheed taking over law and Dinesh Trivedi railways,
new inductees like Jayanthi » |
New Delhi:
The much anticipated cabinet reshuffle in the end stood out for
what did not happen rather than the big-ticket changes that many
thought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would make to give his
government a new image. In the process, the larger message --
either political or on the economic front -- was clearly lacking
in the exercise.
The changes made were widely expected, and names of some new
entrants were leaked to select media by the Congress party itself.
The big four -- Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, A.K. Antony and
S.M. Krishna -- retained their portfolios of finance, home,
defence and external affairs, belying talk of "changes at the
top".
Mukherjee was not made deputy prime minister, although expected in
some circles, nor were other three moved out despite whispers in
the corridors.
Krishna, despite adverse comments on his handling of the foreign
ministry and unflattering write-ups about the undue influence
wielded by his political advisor, retained the portfolio whose
strategic vision is known to be outlined by the prime minister
himself.
The foreign minister, on whose continuance many had put a question
mark, was told some days ago that he should have no fears and was
asked to go ahead with preparations for the coming visit of US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
There had been reports that Anand Sharma wanted the job and he had
privately talked of his desire to return to the ministry where he
had served as a minister of state before being elevated to cabinet
rank with the commerce and industry portfolio.
He now has additional charge of the textiles that was being held
by Dayanidhi Maran, who was made to resign from the cabinet
following charges about his involvement in the telecom license
scandal.
The Trinamool got its ministers in the slots it wanted -- railways
for Dinesh Trivedi in the cabinet and health and family welfare
for Sudip Bandopadhyaya as minister of state.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who held railways
earlier not particularly with distinction for a little over two
years, is now laying great stress on the health sector in her
state and needs central funds to push hospital projects in a state
where the area had been badly neglected by the previous Left Front
government.
The DMK could not decide on its nominees in time to replace A.
Raja and Dayanadhi Maran, both of whom had to resign in ignominy.
Raja ended up in jail and Maran is going to be investigated.
Jairam Ramesh, an environmental evangelist who put green concerns
on the front burner of the nation and became a passionate and
articulate advocate for the emerging economies in international
forums, got promoted for his work to cabinet rank.
He will now hold the important portfolio of rural development that
deals with the concerns of nearly 70 percent of India's
population. This segment of population has been the target of the
government's flagship social and economic uplift schemes but had
been suffering from inept handling and administrative neglect and
whose votes, at the end of the day, can determine the fortunes of
any government in India.
New faces in the government were restricted to a few: V. Kishore
Chandra Deo, a competent parliamentarian who got the portfolio of
tribal affairs, and panchayati raj, which again are crucial areas
for any government from the developmental viewpoint, but have not
got the ministerial attention the area needed.
There was some talk of Mani Shankar Aiyar returning to the
panchayati raj ministry, especially since he was made Rajya Sabha
MP after losing his Lok Sabha seat in the last election. But his
mouth-shooting habits were obviously not to the liking of Manmohan
Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi.
Articulate party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan found place in
the council of ministers with independent rank, taking over the
environment and forest portfolio from Jairam Ramesh.
Since Murli Deora resigned, his son Milind Deora, who has made his
own name as a young MP with varied interests, including being a
performing jazz guitarist, has been inducted as minister of state
for communication and IT to complement the work of his friend
Sachin Pilot, who too is a minister of state in the ministry that
will continue to be overseen by Kapil Sibal.
Sibal, a man who evidently enjoys the trust of Manmohan and Sonia,
will continue to hold dual charge of human resource development
and communication, which includes the economically weighty and
politically significant department of telecom.
Also Vayalar Ravi continues to hold dual charge of aviation and
overseas Indian affairs. There has to be another tinkering with
the cabinet in the near future to lighten the burden of those like
Sibal and Ravi who continue to hold two heavyweight portfolios
each.
Salman Khursheed, who was part of the government troubleshooting
team that interacted with civil society representatives, has
obviously become one of the government's blue-eyed boys along with
Sibal and Ramesh.
Khursheed takes over the law portfolio at a time when the
country's highest court has been accused of judicial activism and
arrogating to itself executive roles that it was not meant to
play.
But talk of inducting technocrats like C. Rangarajan into the team
to infuse fresh life into the stalling reforms were belied. The
old wine could not be easily replaced.
The prime minister and the Congress president evidently did not
have enough confidence in the new-age wine in the party to replace
the old and infuse new hope in a people who had become cynical and
despairing about the country in the face of corruption scandals
and growth slowdown.
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