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An advertisement across major dailies this morning shows how unpredictable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet reshuffle must have been. The government of India ad, for a memorandum of understanding between ministries of road transport & highways and railways, displays DV Sadananda Gowda as the railway minister. Gowda, who has been at the centre of controversy over his son, lost the railway portfolio in Sunday’s shuffle. He got shifted as the law minister, while Suresh Prabhu, who switched to BJP from Shiv Sena only yesterday, has been given railways.
Another key loser, Harsh Vardhan, who has been shunted from health to science & technology, also seemed unaware of what was coming. On Sunday evening, hours after the new faces had been inducted into the Cabinet, Harsh Vardhan was presiding at the World Ayurveda Congress in the capital as the health minister, even greeting Modi and sharing the dais with the PM at the function.
Some analysts are linking Vardhan’s shift to a low profile science & technology ministry to the upcoming Delhi Assembly election, where he will be a prominent face. But the former health minister was in the midst of a controversy over the recent removal of HK Jethi as the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) attached to the Medical Council of India (MCI). Jethi had complained to the Central Vigilance Commission complaining of “victimisation and harassment” by the MCI administration and had sought repatriation to his parent cadre. Vardhan had denied any role in Jethi’s removal.
53-year-old Jagat Prakash Nadda, known as a master-strategist and a trusted lieutenant of both Modi as well as BJP president Amit Shah, has got the prestigious health portfolio. He is known to have the support of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Cabinet portfolios were officially announced by the Centre close to Sunday midnight, leaving many ministers to guess till the end.
The change of portfolio for 62-year-old Shripad Yesso Naik, who comes from North Goa constituency, is also being seen as a decline in terms of ministry hierarchy. The former tourism minister has now been given the Ayush portfolio. Naik had sounded fully in charge of the tourism ministry till very recently while commenting on the appointment of the new secretary and the ambitious plans for the sector. Visa on arrival facility for a large number of countries and electronic visa (e-visa) are among the areas the Modi government is keen on, but tourism ministry under Naik has not yet delivered on those.
Mahesh Sharma, a minister of state with independent charge, will now be driving the changes at the tourism ministry, apart from culture and north-east affairs. A medical practitioner who won the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year from Gautam Budh Nagar in UP, 55-year-old Sharma is believed to be a follower of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood. The tourism ministry has recently gone through secretary-level changes too.
Among the other key losers include Narendra Singh Tomar, who’s left with steel and mines while labour, a key reform area for the ruling government, has been given away to 67-year-old Bandaru Dattareya as minister of state with independent charge. Dattareya was incharge of Telengana unit of BJP earlier. Prakash Javedekar too has lost the powerful information & broadcasting portfolio to Arun Jaitley as cabinet minister and Olympic medalist Rajyavardhan Rathore will be the minister of state for I&B. Javadekar retains environment. Sarbananda Sonowal, while retaining sports & youth affairs, has lost the skill development portfolio, which has been given to Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a BJP spokesperson for long.
Other prominent ministers who have shed portfolios include Arun Jaitley, from whom defence has gone to Manohar Parrikar, former Goa minister; and Ravi Shankar Prasad, who stays with IT and communications while law has gone to Gowda.
