- Shake up in key infra ministries; power & railways spared
- Alliance partners dealt with firmly; no new berth for DMK
- Finance, home, defence & external affairs left untouched
- UP, which sees election this year, finds accommodation
The Prime Minister today shuffled key infrastructure ministers and said this was only a minor exercise; a "more expansive" one will come after the Budget session of Parliament ends in May.
Even this minor exercise shook up the ministries of petroleum and natural gas, civil aviation, roads & highways, heavy industries, urban development and rural development. However, there is no change at the ministries of power and railways.
The first Cabinet-level changes in the second term of the United Progressive Alliance left the Big Four of finance, home, defence and external affairs untouched. The reallocation of portfolios also saw little by way of young blood inducted into the council of ministers.
Today’s changes are being seen as warning signals by Manmohan Singh to non-performing ministers, though he stopped short of dropping some of them to revamp the image of the government, sullied by charges of corruption and failure to tackle food inflation.(Click for KEY CHANGES)
With the “more expansive” exercise four months away, he appears to have stood firm with the alliance partners. Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party has lost the food portfolio, which includes sugar, a sector of interest to him. But he has gained the important portfolio of food processing.
Pawar’s protégé, Praful Patel, has given up the high-flying civil aviation ministry, which he had held since 2004, to move to heavy industries, albeit with a promotion to Cabinet rank. And the DMK, whose A Raja earlier lost telecom to Kapil Sibal of the Congress, has not been compensated.
The Congress’ own Kamal Nath, who fought a running battle with the Planning Commission over road development, moves from the dynamic ministry of roads & highways to urban development.
The roads & highways ministry, often at the receiving end of corruption charges, goes to C P Joshi, who has a reputation for tough-talking and incorruptibility. The Central Bureau of Investigation has been seeking, without success, ministerial permission to proceed against some officers in the ministry.
B K Handique has been moved out of the mines ministry to the ministry for development of the north-east. His successor is Dinsha Patel.
Shashi Tharoor, who had resigned as the junior external affairs minister in the wake of his fracas with Lalit Modi over the Kochi IPL franchisee, stays out; his place has gone to E Ahamed, who was earlier in the railways.
M S Gill, much in the news over the organisation of the Commonwealth Games, gives up sports & youth affairs and moves to statistics & programme implementation.
In the ministry of petroleum & natural gas, which was a focal point in the battle between the Ambani brothers for gas, both Cabinet minister Murli Deora and minister of state Jitin Prasada move out.
Deora goes to corporate affairs in place of Salman Khurshid, who moves to water resources and minority affairs with a Cabinet rank. Prasada goes to roads & highways. S Jaipal Reddy replaces Deora at the oil ministry, while R P N Singh will be his junior minister.
Jairam Ramesh, who has maintained a high profile with his pro-environment stand on clearing large industrial projects, retains his portfolio and rank.
The Prime Minster also seemed to be nodding to Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due this year and next year, respectively. Sriprakash Jaiswal from Kanpur was elevated to Cabinet rank in his old portfolio of coal, while vacating statistics and programme implementation for M S Gill.
Beni Prasad Verma, also from UP, becomes minister of state for steel. The appointment of Salman Khurshid as water resources minister with Cabinet rank is significant for the parched region of Bundelkhand.
Kerala’s Vyalar Ravi, in a move that would surprise many, takes over civil aviation while keeping his old portfolio of overseas Indian affairs. K C Venugopal and K V Thomas, both from the same state, have been inducted as ministers of state.
There is nothing for the other two states heading for elections this year: West Bengal and Assam.
The main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to pounce on the lack of punishment for non-performing ministers. "The reshuffle has failed to show the government's resolve to fight corruption... The only message one gets is that even today, the PM is not able to effect a reshuffle by rising above pressure. He has failed on the expectations of the people," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.
