Weak bench strength could pave way for dynasts in Cabinet

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is likely to expand its council of ministers sooner than planned.

The leadership might also relent on some of the red lines it had adopted for picking ministers sworn in on May 26. This, say sources, is primarily because of weak bench strength. Several talented individuals in the BJP with substantial administrative experience find themselves out of the council of ministers because of the self-imposed red lines.

These restrictions also meant many not particularly deserving people have found themselves with important Cabinet portfolios. Primarily four red lines were adhered to while selecting the 46 ministers sworn in on May 26. These were no children or close relatives of living politicians, no outsiders or technocrats, nobody above 75 and nobody whose name any state unit had opposed. This meant several leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi, among seniors, or Rajiv Pratap Rudy from the middle rungs and Anurag Thakur from the BJP’s younger brigade were left out of the Cabinet. Joshi was kept out on the pretext that he was above 80, Rudy because the Bihar unit opposed his name while Thakur is the son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal. Former disinvestment minister Arun Shourie was not included because he was considered an outsider. The view within the BJP is  now that it has got a majority on its own, the party should reward people who have served it for decades, instead of allowing technocrats to corner important portfolios.

Apart from lack of talent within the government, pressure from both the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as also from within the party has played a role in the decision to expand the Cabinet. The BJP’s leadership has felt the need to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde. Many ministers have discovered the workload of handling more than one ministry is heavy. The expansion is likely to include several ministers of state to shoulder the workload of Cabinet ministers.

The problem, however, is about accommodating the seniors. Inclusion of a Joshi or a C P Thakur could open the floodgates for many more seniors demanding inclusion. The BJP plans to give most seniors gubernatorial assignments. It plans to remove most Congress appointed governors, just as the Congress removed NDA-appointed governors when the United Progressive Alliance came to power in 2004.

Sons or daughters like Thakur, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s son Dushyant Singh, who is a two-time MP, UP BJP leader Kalyan Singh’s son Rajbir, Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh’s son Abhishek are in contention. The current council of ministers has only Piyush Goyal, whose father Ved Prakash Goyal was a ranking BJP leader. Goyal senior was the BJP treasurer, as is Piyush.

The BJP leadership is also likely to convince the Bihar unit that Rudy should be included.