Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is likely to induct about twenty new faces into his council of ministers when he expands his Union council of ministers before the Budget session commences on May 27, a Vajpayee aide said yesterday.
The expansion, which would take the strength of the ministry to over 60, would take place after the first meeting of the coordination committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies this week-end.
The Prime Minister currently holds several portfolios, including the two held by S Muthaiah of AIADMK and Buta Singh who resigned following framing of charges against them.
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While the surface transport ministry formerly held by Muthaiah is likely to go to a new nominee of the AIADMK, the all important ministry of communication held by Buta Singh would have to go to a new minister.
Apart from the few Cabinet ministers that the government must have, most of the other inductions would be at the junior level as there is not much scope left for inducting more Cabinet ministers, the PM aide said.
However, some room would be left for a smaller expansion of the ministry in order to attract new allies. The just ended BJP executive at Gandhinagar has already declared that it would strengthen the government by winning over new allies.
Except Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress and N Chandrababu Naidus Telugu Desam Party, who have decided not to participate in the government, every other constituent of the government has claimed Cabinet berths in the next expansion. But the Prime Minister would strictly go by the relative strength of various alliance partners in inducting new ministers and also in their status and allocation of portfolios.
Both Jayalalitha of AIADMK and Union commerce minister Ramakrishna Hegde are participating in the coordination committee in spite of the former writing to the Prime Minister levelling certain charges against the latter and asking for his removal from the Cabinet.
According to the PMO source, the Prime Minister yesterday referred Jayalalithas letter to Attorney General Soli Sorabjee for opinion. The response is excepted in a day or two, well before the coordination committee meets.
The PM aide said that Vajpayee did not want to sit on judgement over allegation made by a member of one ally against another member of another ally. Therefore, he has decided to take legal opinion. The aide was confident that Jayalalitha would be satisfied with the course of action.
On the recent provocative statements of Union defence minister George Fernandes about China being Indias enemy number one, the aide said the Prime Minister would definitely speak to Fernandes.He said that Fernandes was obviously not reflecting the views of the nation and the government and a clarification might be issued after Vajpayee speaks to the defence minister.
He ridiculed any attempt to link the issue in any way to the Indo-US relations and said the US itself was on friendly terms with the Chinese. Why would they be interested in a proxy war with China through India, he asked.