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Manohar Parrikar
According to a late-evening announcement, former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar (to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh) will take over as defence minister from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who until now held defence as an additional portfolio. Suresh Prabhu (yet to be elected to either House) replaces D V Sadananda Gowda as railway minister. J P Nadda has been given the health & family welfare portfolio and Birender Singh has become the Union minister for rural development, panchayati raj, drinking water and sanitation.
Gowda has been moved to the law & justice ministry. Earlier, Information & Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had additional charge of this ministry. (STATES’ REPRESENTATION* IN COUNCIL OF MINISTERS)
Sunday's expansion of the council of ministers, though, was mired in controversy and could go down in history as one that deepened a schism among old friends -it resulted in the Shiv Sena giving the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 48 hours to clarify its stand (on the Maharashtra government) or face the Shiv Sena in the Opposition.
Earlier in the day, amid high drama, Anil Desai, the Shiv Sena nominee who had landed in Delhi along with wife hoping to be sworn in as a minister, was asked to return to Mumbai from the airport, as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to accept any of the Sena's conditions over the state government in Maharashtra. Later, addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said his party could not sit by the side of a party that accepted the support of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Worse, Shiv Sena's Prabhu was talked into resigning from the party and joining BJP. He was given a Cabinet rank; many Sena members saw this as an act of treachery by BJP.
A large number of professionals, especially businessmen, were elevated. Y S Chowdary, nominated by the Telugu Desam Party, was made minister of state (MoS) for science & technology, earth sciences. He runs a group of companies in the infrastructure space; his companies employ 6,000 people and have a $3-billion turnover. While Jayant Sinha, MoS for finance, is known for his career in investment banking; Mahesh Sharma, MoS for civil aviation with independent charge for culture and tourism as well, is a professional doctor running a chain of healthcare institutions. Prabhu is a chartered accountant, a climate change expert and an advisor to several investment banking firms. Parrikar is a qualified engineer who earlier ran a consultancy firm. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, MoS for skill development & entrepreneurship (independent charge) and parliamentary affairs, is a professional pilot.
If the previous council of ministers had the imprint of Jaitley, this one seems to be influenced by the thinking of BJP President Amit shah, and the ensuing political challenge before the party - state elections in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Accordingly, Babul Supriyo, a singer-politician from West Bengal, was made MoS for urban development, housing & urban poverty alleviation. Ramkripal Yadav, a new BJP entrant from Bihar who defeated Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharati in the general elections, was made MoS for drinking water & sanitation. The idea, it seemed, was to quell the challenge of a likely consolidation among other backward classes in the state.
Also, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a Shia Muslim from Uttar Pradesh, was elevated ahead of Shahnawaz Hussain, a Sunni who contested and lost the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar. Naqvi became MoS for minority and parliamentary affairs. From UP, the party also elevated Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who had beaten Amar Singh in the Fatehpur constituency, as MoS for food processing industries.
Older members from these states were ignored if new BJP entrants appeared to be serving better purpose. Birender Singh, a Congressman until a few months ago, was rewarded with a ministership because he belonged to the underrepresented Jat community. In Rajasthan, whose representation in the council of ministers was small with respect to the number of MPs BJP has from the state, Sanwar Lal Jat was inducted for the same reason. Jat was made MoS for water resources, river development & Ganga rejuvenation.
The states where BJP does not have much electoral presence - Kerala and Odisha - continued to be underrepresented in the government, while Madhya Pradesh continues to have as many as five ministers.
BROAD-BASED GOVT
Those included on Sunday
Cabinet ministers
- Manohar Parrikar (Goa): Defense
- Suresh Prabhu (Maharashtra): Railways
- J P Nadda (Himachal): Health and Family Welfare
- Birender Singh (Haryana): Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation
- Bandaru Dattatreya (Telangana): Labour and Employment
- Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Bihar): Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
- Mahesh Sharma (UP): Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation
- Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (UP): Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs
- Ram Kripal Yadav (Bihar): Drinking Water and Sanitation
- Haribhai Chaudhary (Gujarat): Home Affairs
- Sanwar Lal Jat (Rajasthan): Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
- Mohanbhai Kundariya (Gujarat): Agriculture
- Giriraj Singh (Bihar): Micro, Smal and Medium Enterprises
- Hansraj Gangaram Ahir (Maharashtra): Chemicals and Fertilisers
- Ram Shankar Katheria (UP): Human Resource Development
- Y S Chowdary (Andhra): Science & Technology and Earth Science
- Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Rajasthan): Information and Broadcasting
- Babul Supriyo (West Bengal): Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
- Jayant Sinha (Jharkhand): Finance
- Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (UP): Food Processing Industries
- Vijay Sampla (Punjab): Social Justice and Empowerment
