In an exercise aimed at accommodating regional aspirations, talent, experience and youth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expanded his Cabinet, brining in 21 new Ministers, including two IITians, an Olympic Silver medallist, a religious preacher, a former plumber and a Bollywood singer.
There are four new Cabinet Ministers, including former Goa Chief Minister and IITian Manohar Parrikar; Suresh Prabhu, former Shiv Sainik, who joined the BJP before swearing-in; the BJP general secretary JP Nadda, and BJP leader and former Congressman from Haryana Chaudhary Birender Singh.
Predictably, the Shiv Sena boycotted the swearing-in ceremony, protesting that its nominee Vinay Desai was offered a junior Minister’s post, which was not acceptable to the party.
In the first Cabinet expansion exercise after assuming power on May 26, the Prime Minister inducted a total of 21 Ministers into his Council of Ministers (taking the total number of Ministers to 66) in a move that gave a big push to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — with an eye on elections — and rewarded Maharashtra and Haryana for delivering decisive victories for the party in the recent Assembly polls. In Modi’s Council of Ministers, now 27, including the Prime Minister, are of Cabinet rank, 13 Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 26 Ministers of State.
As expected Parrikar, an experienced and able administrator, has been assigned the Ministry of Defence, relieving Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of his dual charge. Jaitley retains Finance and Corporate Affairs and has been given additional charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
Prabhu has been appointed as the new Railway Minister and Modi’s ‘sherpa’ to assist the Prime Minister at the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane.Sadananda Gowda has been shifted from Railways to law and Justice.JP Nadda, entrusted with major responsibilities in the party as general secretary, has been handed over the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to bring in his compact political experience to the Government.
Parrikar gets Defence, I&B goes to Jaitley, Prabhu is new Rly Min Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has now been moved to Science and Technology, Earth Sciences.Birender Singh, a Congress rebel who had joined the BJP ahead of the General Elections, has been inducted as the new Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation to draw Jat support in Haryana where the BJP has appointed non-Jat Chief Minister Mahohar lal Khattar.
Ravi Shankar Prasad retains Communication and Information Technology while Rajiv Pratap Rudy is Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent charge) and Parliamentary Affairs.
Bandaru Dattatreya is the new Minister of State (Independent Charge) for labour and Employment while Mahesh Sharma gets the charge of Tourism as Minister of State.Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary is Minister of State for Home and Sanwar lal Jat is Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
Mohanbhai Kalayanjibhai Kundariya is Minister of State for Agriculture and Giriraj Singh is Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, while Hansraj Gangaram Ahir is Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizers.Ram Shankar Katheriya is MoS HRD, Y S Chowdary is MoS Science and Technology, Earth Science while Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is MoS Information and Broadcasting.
Babul Supriyo Baral is MoS Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, while Jayant Sinha is MoS Finance.The reshuffling took place after Modi held discussions with the new Ministers over tea at 7, Race Course Road. No leader from the Opposition Congress was present during the oath-taking ceremony.
Among the 17 Ministers of State, who took oath, three have been given Independent Charge. BJP’s lone MP from Telangana and party vice-president Bandaru Dattatreya, BJP general secretary from Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy (both Ministers in Vajpayee Government), and Mahesh Sharma, newly-elected MP from Gautam Buddh Nagar in UP, were sworn-in as Ministers of State with Independent Charge.
The induction of Rudy, who defeated lalu’s wife Rabri Devi in Saran, Giriraj Singh and Yadav is seen as an attempt to woo various caste groups in Bihar which will go to Assembly polls next year. His role as Prabhari of Maharashtra where BJP emerged as single-largest party seems to have received appreciation by the party.
The reshuffle was aimed to fine-tune caste and state-wise regional balance with an eye on future elections in Bihar (2015), West Bengal (2016), and UP and Punjab (2017). Bihar was represented in Rudy, Ram Kripal Yadav and Giriraj Singh while UP saw the inclusion of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a minority face of the BJP, BJP general secretary and a backward face Ram Shankar Katheria, and religious preacher and Fatehpur MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in the Council of Ministers.
Giriraj Singh, lok Sabha member from the Nawada constituency, had made a controversial statement that all those opposed to Modi should go to Pakistan as they have no place in India. Ram Kripal Yadav, a former RJD leader had defeated lalu Prasad’s daughter in Pataliputra on BJP ticket in the last lok Sabha poll.
Jayant Sinha, BJP MP from Jharkhand and son of former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, who was included as Minister of State had graduated from IIT Delhi and Harvard Business School, USA. His induction is seen as encouraging a “talent” who could bring in his economic expertise in the Government.
Vijay Sampla, who was once a plumber, scaled new heights with his induction into the Modi Ministry that is apparently aimed at 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab where the BJP hopes to play the Dalit card to woo the Scheduled Caste community, which is over 30 per cent in the State.
Babul Supriyo, a former Banker and Bollywood singer has given a boost to the BJP in West Bengal where it is making rapid strides against the Trinamool Congress rule in the State.
The fourteen Ministers of State, who were sworn-in, incude Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (UP), Ram Kripal Yadav (Bihar), Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary (Gujarat), Sanwar lal Jat (Rajasthan) and Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya (Gujarat) Giriraj Singh (Bihar-Bhumihar), Hansraj Ahir (Maharashtra-Dalit), Ram Shankar Katheria (UP-Dalit), Jayant Sinha (Bihar-Kayasth), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Rajasthan-Rajput), Babul Supriyo (West Bengal), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (UP-Dalit) and Vijay Sampla (Dalit-Punjab) -- all BJP and YS Chowdhary, a Rajya Sabha member from the TDP.
The already-strained BJP-Sena ties saw further degradation when Prabhu, a former Shiv Sainik, joined the BJP to take oath as a Cabinet Minister.
Sena’s Rajya Sabha member, Anil Desai, who was tipped to become a Minister, was directed to return to Mumbai from the airport here just hours before the swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, which said he was not available “for the purpose”.
Interestingly, Naqvi, BJP vice-president and a Minister in the Vajpayee Government, was only made a Minister of State, and Rudy became MoS with Independent Charge. Eyebrows also were raised in certain quarters when Mahesh Sharma, a first time lok Sabha member, was made Minister of State with Independent Charge. Ahir was rewarded for his relentless campaign as a whistle-blower in the coal block allocation scam.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended among others by vice-president Hamid Ansari, lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien, Modi and his Cabinet colleagues, BJP president Amit Shah and lK Advani.
Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh, Devendra Fadnavis and Manohar lal Khattar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu of TDP were also present while none from the Congress attended the ceremony.