UP Chief Minister banks on ministerial revamp

There are two ways to interpret Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's massive restructuring of his ministry. The first is to see it as his coming of age, so to say. The Chief Minister, it would appear, finally lost patience with the old guard which had been part of his ministry solely on the strength of its long-serving ties with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. It was proving to be deadweight and a hindrance to Mr Akhilesh Yadav's desire to project a modern and progressive image of his Government. After the Samajwadi Party's decisive win in the 2012 Assembly election, there had been expectations that Mr Akhilesh Yadav would helm a clean slate, but that was not to be. He had to include many faces in his Council of Ministers that he did not connect with or had no confidence in. He dragged on with the burden until he could tolerate it no more. Part of this theory may be true, but even the present purge, in which eight Ministers, including five of Cabinet rank, lost their jobs, did not impact some of the heavyweights who have brought a bad name to his Government. The controversial Azam Khan, for instance, remains untouched, despite the openly known secret that the Chief Minister tolerates him only for his proximity to Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. Nevertheless, Mr Akhilesh Yadav's supporters will argue that the induction of new faces and the reshuffle in portfolios of as many as nine Ministers will provide a genuine facelift to the ministry, even if some old guards like Mr Khan linger on in the Government.

The second interpretation is that the Chief Minister is concerned by the challenging prospect of retaining the State following the Assembly election that is due in a little over one year from now. He realises that while his Government had started with an abundance of hope and goodwill, much of that has been lost along the way. This time, it's not just that old and established foe, the Bahujan Samaj Party led by Ms Mayawati, but also a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party, which presents a stiff contest. The BJP had swept the 2014 lok Sabha election from Uttar Pradesh, leaving the mighty Samajwadi Party with only a fistful of seats, and that too confined to the party's first family. The Chief Minister perhaps believes that the ministerial rejig will send across a firm message to the electorate that he is not just in charge but is also willing to, in a way, rock the boat to serve the people's interests. Only time will tell how Mr Akhilesh Yadav's gamble works. But in the coming months, he will have to face the displeasure of those who have been shown the door. His management of the fallout will be interesting to watch. Meanwhile, one wonders how Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav — a former Chief Minister himself — who has on repeated occasions publicly castigated the State regime over sloppy performance, often in the Chief Minister’s presence, leaving the latter red-faced, sees the ministerial revamp. He must have been consulted beforehand.