Merit was not well rewarded, some states got poor representation and not many young faces found a place in the new team.
After days of dithering, prime minister Manmohan Singh has gone ahead with the ‘last reshuffle’ before the 2014 polls.
Though quite sizeable in terms of numbers, this long-awaited exercise delivers too little in terms of performance, and political image. Singh has rejigged the law portfolio and allotted it to Salman Khursheed in a clear disapproval of Veerappa Moily’s performance, and has also kicked Ramesh upwards from the environment ministry to the rural development charge with a cabinet rank.
But then there has been no other change with ministers like Kapil Sibal, Pawan Bansal and Vayalar Ravi, holding on to additional charges. Similarly, the induction of young blood has been limited to Milind coming in place of father Murli Deora, and Rahul Gandhi’s trusted aide Jitendra Singh getting a berth as a minister of state.
After the swearing-in, Singh did concede that the two vacancies from the DMK quota had to be filled up, and there would be some disappointment with the change of portfolios, but confirmed the limitations of his government. He seemed to convey a message that this was the best-possible combination and nothing much could be done.
As and when the DMK decides to send its two representatives it is likely that they would reclaim the textiles and the coveted telecom portfolio.
The chopping of the deadwood — MS Gill, BK Handique was inevitable. No one comes from Punjab in place of Gill. So, Assam despite being the PM’s home state in parliamentary terms, and Punjab the native state of the prime minister continues to have poor representation in the ministry.
Of the new faces, Rajiv Shukla, the journalist-turned networker politician, has been rewarded with a ministerial berth, but he has a challenging task in ensuring floor coordination with the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling combine is in a minority. Charan Das Mahant, the lone Congress MP from Chhattisgarh, has been waiting in the wings for quite some time, and this is an opportunity for him to prove.
Beni Prasad Verma’s elevation to the cabinet rank is a mere correction of the previous reshuffle as the Congress had inducted him with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh elections due in 2012. With the minister of state rank, he could hardly be expected to bring in the necessary drive to the political battle.
For Dinesh Trivedi and Sudip Bandhopadhyay, the rewards have come due to the benevolence of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, and the PM obliging to the the biggest alliance partner.
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