Sunday, Jun 16, 2002
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By Harish Khare
For some months now there has been talk of a "comprehensive'', mid-term reshuffle in the NDA Government. The Prime Minister is believed to be keen on a comprehensive rearranging among his Cabinet colleagues and their ministerial assignments; the idea is to weed out the non-performers and to reward the competent and hard-working colleagues. The objective was and remains to give a "new look'' to the Vajpayee Government. In fact, such a reshuffle was deemed to be very much on the cards after the budget session (which ended on May 17). However, with the heightened tension and the eventual war-like mobilisation in the wake of the Kaluchak incident of May 14, the prime ministerial attention was naturally distracted. The stand-off with Pakistan hardly seemed the time to change the portfolios of the senior Ministers. Now Mr. Vajpayee is reported to be again thinking of a reshuffle. There is a distinct thaw in the relationship with Pakistan, and all the indications point in the direction of gradual de-escalation. The Prime Minister can now perhaps attend to the pending business, like finding a replacement for Ram Vilas Paswan and inducting the former Chief Minister of Gujarat, Keshubhai Patel. In addition to the stand-off with Pakistan, the uncertainty over the nature of the Presidential contest was a factor. A reshuffle would have been an avoidable distraction in case the ruling party had to sweat it out. The pressure has eased after the Congress and the Samajwadi Party declared themselves to be in favour of the NDA nominee. Now with a near consensus on Abdul Kalam, the ruling party's political managers are breathing easy. By the same token the Prime Minister can also think of a reshuffle and expansion, which would necessarily involve reinduction of the Trinamool Congress and the PMK. It is said that the Prime Minister is also keen on inducting a number of BJP names, acknowledging the new mood of assertiveness on the part of the BJP as the big brother in the National Democratic Alliance coalition. Of late, the BJP parliamentarians have come to feel that the alliance partners have hogged a disproportionate share of ministerial posts in the Vajpayee Government. However, the "comprehensive reshuffle'' was conceptualised as being centred on the perceived need to bring about a change of guard at the Finance Ministry. At once stage, the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, was reported to be reconciled to the idea of a change in his brief. But the recent attacks in a section of the media on his integrity have made Mr. Sinha dig his heels. He obviously perceives these attacks unfair and motivated, and is distinctly unprepared to bow out of the Finance Ministry. Mr. Jaswant Singh is fully preoccupied on the diplomatic front. The idea of a "swap" between finance and foreign affairs assignment no longer looks like a workable proposition. But, Mr. Singh could lose his deputy, Omar Abdullah, who is scheduled to take over as president of the National Conference.
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