Shuffling the pack

There is growing speculation about a Cabinet reshuffle. Given the limited room for manoeuvre that a coalition leader has, the Delhi fever on the subject is quite unwarranted because any reshuffle is likely to be a limited exercise.

Nevertheless, if Manmohan Singh were to look at the faces around the room when the Cabinet meets, he will be hard put to find some real performers.

Sure, the Left has acted as a constraint on key issues, but there is plenty that can be done to which the Left will not object. So, what might a maximalist plan involve?

First, the performers who need not be disturbed are Pranab Mukherjee at defence, P Chidambaram at finance and Praful Patel in civil aviation.

Dayanidhi Maran at telecom and IT could have done more, and Mani Shankar Aiyar at petroleum has been patchy, but at least they have the ability to deliver, while Natwar Singh at external affairs has played a good second fiddle to the Prime Minister.

Kamal Nath excites divided opinion, and HR Bhardwaj at law is a faithful warhorse who knows how to be useful. It is equally easy to pick out those who should be dropped or moved; the bigger challenge is to find superior replacements.

Heading the list of those who should be put to pasture from among the Congress ministers are the human resource development minister, Arjun Singh, and the power minister, P M Sayeed.

These two gentlemen have achieved precious little in two of the most important areas of action, and their advanced age could easily be cited as reason.

By common consent, Shivraj Patil has not excelled in the home ministry, and Jaipal Reddy at information and broadcasting seems to feel out of place in today's media world.

Both could be found new perches more to their liking. Shankarsinh Vaghela has done precious little in textiles, and it is not even clear why these single-industry ministries need to survive.

Among the coalition partners, Sharad Pawar has done little with his weighty double-charge of agriculture and food; poor health may be the issue.

In that case, one of the two portfolios can be taken away and given to a more active person-if needed, then from Mr Pawar's NCP; if no one else, then why not the energetic Praful Patel to handle the crucial portfolio of food?

As for Lalu Prasad, he should have bowed out a long time ago, given the history of criminal proceedings against him, but since that has not happened he can be retained in the railway portfolio, where performance has not been bad and there are even some stirrings of change.

That is more than can be said of Ram Vilas Paswan, a spectacular misfit in any ministry to do with the modern world.

As for who can be brought in, the Congress has a bunch of educated young MPs who can be blooded with ministerial responsibility at the second rung.

Names like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot come readily to mind, while qualified people with experience of policy work, like Jairam Ramesh and Salman Khurshid, can be useful as ministerial colleagues.

What the Prime Minister must be conscious of is that he still has a fund of goodwill, but that will evaporate if he does not get his ministerial team to deliver more in the UPA's second year than in the first.