Complex exercise, outlines still undecided.
The first reshuffle of the United Progressive Alliance government’s council of ministers which assumed office in May last year will take place at 5 pm in Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow, following consultations between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi earlier today.
The reshuffle comes as a harried government tries to fight charges of mismanagement, corruption and drift. The reshuffle is intended as much to streamline governance as it is to change the optics.
Several vacancies — the resignation of A Raja from the telecommunications ministry following corruption charges, the shifting of Prithviraj Chavan from the Prime Minister’s Office to Mumbai as Chief Minister, and the resignation of minister of state for external Affairs, Shashi Tharoor — have to be filled. The culture portfolio is with the Prime Minister. Kapil Sibal is handling two portfolios, human resource development and telecom. Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is holding in his charge not only the ministry of health but important states like Karnataka.
The party and government will have to decide whether to shift minister for power Sushilkumar Shinde and heavy industry minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in view of their alleged involvement in the Adarsh land case. Some Congress politicians argue they are as culpable as former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who was asked to quit.
Moreover, the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Goa have no representation in the council of ministers at all.
As the reshuffle has to fill a post created by an ally, the interesting question that will be answered tomorrow is whether the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will get the same portfolio back or have to opt for another one. Moreover, the reshuffle will involve allies. In the past, civil aviation minister Praful Patel has expressed the wish to be shifted elsewhere, as he has occupied the same post for six years.
There is an argument that faced as it is with food inflation-related problems, a rationalisation of portfolios and ministerial charge could make for better management. Although Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar is too important a leader to be moved, some administrative tinkering with his charge – agriculture, food and civil supplies and consumer affairs – could convey the impression that the administration is being toned up.
Mines Minister B K Handique may be given a charge that is less stressful. At the recent party convention in Delhi, party head Sonia Gandhi had made two points — that the government must look younger and party workers must be given primacy by the government. Whether some people will be pushed from the party into the government and, by the same logic, ministers drafted for party work remains to be seen.
