Is Smriti Irani on her way out of Union Cabinet?

Is Smriti Irani on her way out of the Union cabinet? If the buzz in the corridors of Shastri Bhawan, from where the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry operates, is to be believed, then the cabinet reshuffle due later this week will see a new person at the helm of the crucial portfolio.

Pitched by the BJP as one of the most promising face of the Modi cabinet, the HRD minister has not only failed to deliver, but has also made both the academicians and bureaucracy unhappy by her style of functioning.

Despite being the youngest cabinet minister, Irani was given charge of the HRD ministry, one of the most important portfolios for any government. However, ten months into the system, most of the stakeholders are disappointed by her style of working.

"A minister has to give time to the officers to settle down and function smoothly. Unfortunately in HRD Ministry it does not work like that. Assigning charges and then stripping them off is on the whims and fancies of the minister," complained a senior officer who has moved out of the ministry.

HRD ministry had very recently given charges of technical education to additional secretary Amarjeet Sinha. But soon after the controversy created around IIT chairman Anil Kakodkar's resignation, Sinha was removed from technical department and was given charge of Statistics, a relatively insignificant role.

A section in the ministry believes that Singh was unable to brief the minister properly on Kakodkar's issue. However, the past ten months saw five joint secretary-level officers moving out of the HRD ministry, with Radha Chauhan handling secondary education the recent one in the block. In the meeting with the secretaries of various departments, the PM had got complaints against Irani and her style of working.

Not just the bureaucracy, even academicians face a discomfort working with the minister. While the love-hate relationship between Irani and Delhi University Vice- Chancellor Dinesh Singh is no hidden secret, Irani's mannerism towards the academicians has not been liked by many.

Irani had called for a meeting with the VCs of Central University in March. DU VC Dinesh Singh, who was then on a tour abroad, could not attend the meeting and the university's registrar attended the same.

The registrar of DU had to take the brunt from the minister for Singh failing to adhere to her diktat. It was at this meeting that several VCs opposed Irani's manner of addressing a VC. "HRD minister cannot tell a registrar that your VC tries to act over-smart and that I will see him," said a VC present in the meeting.

Sources said that Banaras Hindu University VC GC Tripathi had also raised objections to it. But Tripathi could not be reached for a comment.