Confusing signals

A media briefing after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday was addressed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, flanked by Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of information technology and communications. Jaitley took the opportunity to defend Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian against the attacks on him by Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy. The Cabinet had taken decisions related to Prasad's portfolio but the most important decision related to policy changes in the textiles sector. Many were intrigued to see Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma representing the ministry, while Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar, who was present at the Cabinet meeting, was missing at the media briefing. Gangwar, an important Other Backward Classes leader from Uttar Pradesh, is unlikely to be dropped from the Union Cabinet with UP Assembly polls due early in 2017. It is a mystery as to why Gangwar was absent from the media briefing.