Thursday, Jan 30, 2003
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By Harish Khare
Arun Shourie
The new entrants were administered the oath of office by the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. The Prime Minister and his senior government and party colleagues attended the ceremony. At the end of the day, seven Cabinet Ministers, three Ministers of State (with independent charge), and 19 Ministers of State found additions/deletions in their charges. Talking to mediapersons after the brief ceremony, the Prime Minister described the changes as "part of a natural process". He said "some people in the Government had been drafted for party work and some from party have been taken in the Government". Most prominent among the evening's dramatis personae was Pramod Mahajan, who was asked to give up his high profile job as Communications Minister and to take up, instead, a party assignment. Though Mr. Mahajan will continue to have his working address on the same street, Ashoka Road, the decision to shift him to the party headquarters, a few bungalows up the road, reveals the BJP's changed priorities — from creditable governance to electoral preoccupations. Mr. Mahajan is widely respected for his organisational skills and is expected to more than fill the "vacuum" caused in the BJP by the departure of Arun Jaitley for ministerial responsibilities. 
Arun Jaitley
Besides Mr. Mahajan, three Ministers leaving the Government — Uma Bharti, Vasundhararaje Scindia and Raman Singh — have been inducted for organisational responsibilities in their States, viz., Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Another departee, Jana Krishnamurthy, preferred to put in his papers rather than move from Law to another Ministry, as was suggested to him by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has left undisturbed key Ministries such as Home, Finance, Defence, External Affairs; among the senior Ministers only Sushma Swaraj has been moved from the portfolio of Information and Broadcasting to the equally crucial assignments of Health Ministry and Parliamentary Affairs. Apart from Mr. Mahajan, the two Aruns — Shourie and Jaitley — have caused the most excitement. They will be new hands-on Ministers. Between them, the two will have, for now, crucial portfolios with the former handling Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology and the latter Law and Justice and Commerce and Industry. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the Prime Minister was keen on having Mr. Jaitley back in the Cabinet once the Gujarat elections were out of the way. Equally noteworthy is the independent charge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for Ravi Shankar Prasad, known for talent and integrity. 
Sushma Swaraj
On the other hand, while the shifting of Shatrughan Sinha from the Health Ministry had been long overdue, the return of C.P. Thakur is inexplicable. Seven months ago, he was deemed unfit to continue in the Cabinet, but today he is back and has been made Minister for Development of the North-Eastern Region (besides Minister of Small-Scale Industries). Two aspects of the reshuffle stand out. First, the increasing assertiveness of the Deputy Prime Minister in matters that are classic domain of the Prime Minister. Mr. Advani has finally succeeded in prying the Department of Personnel away from the Prime Minister; but, it is learnt, that the most crucial "charge" of that department, the Central Bureau of Investigation, would continue to be with the Prime Minister. For administrative purposes, the CBI is being asked to report to the Cabinet Secretariat. It is pointed out that Mr. Advani could not possibly be given control over the investigative agency, given the fact he (along with another Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi,) remains technically a suspect in the Babri Masjid demolition case being investigated by the CBI. The second aspect, less visible but quite pronounced, is the shadow of corporate warfare on the reshuffle and reallocation of portfolios. 
C.P.Thakur
The unsuccessful attempt to divest Mr. Shourie of the Ministry of Disinvestment is traced to a corporate-ministerial axis within the Vajpayee Government; this axis had to be content with ensuring that the Finance Minister, Jaswant Singh, did not have to part with the Department of Company Affairs. Nor could Ram Naik be divested of the Petroleum Ministry.
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