A day after Cabinet reshuffle, some smile, some sulk

'Demoted' ministers give enough hints to show their displeasure

The day after the biggest reshuffle of the council of ministers by the United Progressive Alliance in its second term was also a day of monumental confusion and bitter sulking.

Former Minister for Petroleum, Jaipal Reddy, did take charge of his new department – Science and Technology – but in bad grace. He did not come to his previous office to hand over charge to his sucessor, Veerappa Moily and was in meetings with colleagues from Andhra Pradesh all day today giving rise to speculation that he may be considering raising a banner of revolt against his demotion, he believes, at the instance of corporate houses. He later claimed that he did not know Moily would take charge at 11am.

 

Things were so bad that Veerappa Moily was welcomed into his new office by the previous junior minister RPN Singh (who himself has moved out into the Home Ministry). Soon after he took charge, Moily drove to Reddy’s residence to mollify him. Reddy has also complained to Congress president Sonia Gandhi about how a message was going out that this government was in the grips of manipulation by corporate houses.

Taking up the refrain, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said: “The government should explain why Jaipal Reddy was removed and given an unimportant portfolio. Was there pressure from industrial houses?” questioned M Venkaiah Naidu, former BJP President. “It is now clear that the Congress is insensitive to criticism and no respect for probity in public life. In spite of serious charges against the ministers, some of them are retained and some are even promoted. The reshuffle is like a make-up before pack up. This will not serve any purpose.

These are cosmetic changes, but any amount of changes will help Congress from a miserable defeat,” Naidu added.

Later in the evening, addressing a press conference, Jaipal Reddy said he was accepting the new charge he had been given but added: "I was never happy when I was given Petroleum, now too I am not unhappy.”

He was not the only one who was unhappy. Minister of state, Jitin Prasada, who was yesterday made minister of state for both Human Resource Development and Defence, was today divested of the charge of Defence Ministry which was given to Jitendra Singh, Minister of state with Independent charge of Sports and Youth Affairs.

A notification from the President of India said on the advice of the Prime Minister, the portfolios had been reallocated. The government gave no reasons why Prasada was divested of one portfolio.

Minister of state from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Agatha Sangma said a letter she had written to the President of India and given to her party earlier was ‘misused’ to secure her resignation. Sangma who has still not been expelled by the NCP, took part in her father P Sangma’s presidential campaign, that her party claimed was in violation of the whip issued by the NCP.

Amid all this bad blood, details came out about the forces behind the individuals who have been elevated and demoted in the reshuffle. Ashwini Kumar, who has now become Law Minister, was promoted at the express insistence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. His elevation did meet resistance by the party, but the PM prevailed.

Current Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal would have become Minister for External Affairs, but the government felt it could not let go of his legal and business expertise in Telecom. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma was considered for the job but was felt to be lacking in diplomacy.

On balance, Salman Khurshid was selected because of the additional weight his community brings to the job. M Pallam Raju is one of the few ministers of state to have actually benefitted from his senior minister: it was at the insistence of Defence Minister AK Antony that Pallam Raju was elevated. Antony was also responsible for the elevation of Kodikunnil Suresh, a Dalit from Kerala. Party sources confirmed that Rahul Gandhi’s influence in this reshuffle was limited. The strategy that Andhra Pradesh should get more representation was worked out by Party President Sonia Gandhi.