Pm May Induct Nitish, Two From Bjd In Cabinet

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in his Cabinet reshuffle on Saturday, is likely to induct Nitish Kumar of the Samata Party and Arjun Sethi and Brij Kishore Tripathi of the Biju Janata Dal.

The reshuffle, however, is not expected to affect prominent ministries like finance, external affairs, defence, railways, industries and commerce, according to a source.

Of the three new faces, Nitish Kumar and Arjun Sethi will get Cabinet ranks, while Brij Kishore Tripathi will be a minister of state, according to a source in the National Democratic Alliance.

No inductions are likely from the BJP, nor is anyone from the party being dropped, although there was speculation that surface transport minister Rajnath Singh might be sent to Lucknow as Chief Minister.

 

Although the final shape of the new Cabinet is still not clear, the size of the Cabinet may be reduced by one.

Also, there are indications that N T Shanmugham may be shifted out of the health ministry, while power minister R Kumarmangalam may be moved to the law ministry. And coal minister Dilip Ray of the Biju Janata Dal may be dropped.

The three vacancies were created due to resignations by Nitish Kumar, Navin Patnaik and Uma Bharati. The vacancy created by Uma Bharati is not being filled.

"The Prime Minister is very particular about the size of his ministry. He does not want a jumbo Cabinet. So, he is not going in for an expansion, but only inductions against vacancies," the source said.

The BJD requested the Prime Minister to give the mines and minerals portfolio held by Navin Patnaik and coal held by Dilip Ray to the two new faces from its stable.

Meanwhile, the Samata Party and Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) have locked horns over the civil aviation portfolio. According to NDA sources, the Samata Party requested Vajpayee not to give the civil aviation portfolio to Nitish Kumar.

Yadav is said to have threatened to resign if his portfolio was taken away. According to him, this will amount to a public censure by the Prime Minister, since it comes close on the heels of the controversy over his involvement in the Alliance Air flight diversion to Patna.

Yadav extended his full cooperation to the government's move on disinvestment in Air-India at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment on Friday.