Cabinet expansion soon

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, MARCH 27. If sources in the BJP are to be believed, then the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, is ``pretty soon'' planning a mini-expansion of his Cabinet. However, sources in the Prime Minister's Office are not inclined to endorse the ``imminence'' of the proposed expansion.

While the BJP functionaries informally say the expansion could come about within days of the biennial Rajya Sabha election (due on March 29), authoritative sources in the PMO deny any such hurry.

The only definite indication on this had come from the Prime Minister himself, when on March 13, he told an accompanying media party that ``vacancies'' in his Cabinet would be filled. There are two definite vacancies in the Union Cabinet - slots belonging to Mr. Nitish Kumar and Mr. Navin Patnaik are yet to be filled. Ideally, the Prime Minister would undertake an expansion or reshuffle during the parliamentary recess (which ends on April 17).

It appears that supporters and admirers of Ms. Sushma Swaraj, who is slated to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, are keen to have her inducted. The suggestion of an imminent Cabinet expansion essentially comes from these friends of Ms. Swaraj in the BJP establishment.

It is also widely believed that the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, is keen on rewarding two recent converts to the BJP - Mr. S.S. Ahluwalia and Mr. M.V. Rajshekhar Murthy - with ministerial berths. These two had crossed over from the Congress(I).

However, the Prime Minister's options are not easy. The vacancies caused by the departure of Mr. Patnaik and Mr. Kumar would have to be filled, respectively, by nominees of the Biju Janata Dal and the Samata Party. Therefore, the question of inducting BJP MPs does not lend itself to an easy answer, without inviting claims from other NDA partners.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Jagmohan to look into evictions
Next     : All help to fight insurgency, says Advani