In latest revamp, Modi puts a premium on performance
PM didn’t flinch from showing exit door to several nonperforming ministers and cutting to size a few others
NEWDELHI: If performance was the criterion for promotion, demotion and resignation of ministers in the latest reshuffle and expansion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s team on Sunday, it also reflected his intent to try out new strategies to rev up governance.
Sunday’s exercise was predominantly an effort to bring renewed focus and energy into the government with barely 21 months ahead of the next general elections, but it was marked by political symbolism too. The appointment of Nirmala Sitharaman as defence minister is expected to go down well with women across the country.
The RSS hailed it as a “great and remarkable thing” that there will be two woman ministers — the first being external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj— in the cabinet committee on security that comprises the PM, home minister and finance minister.
The promotion of Sitharaman and Dharmendra Pradhan and induction of KJ Alphons are expected to boost BJP’s prospects in their home states — Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Kerala.
What marked the third rejig of Team Modi was the Prime Minister’s decisiveness and willingness to make experiments. He is known to spring surprises in picking his team and there were quite a few this weekend — giving independent charge of ministries to three former bureaucrats who joined the Union council for the first time, shifting Uma Bharti to a low-profile ministry, demoting Vijay Goel, bringing new faces in infrastructure ministries such as railways, power, and housing and urban affairs, among others.
Modi didn’t shy away from showing the exit door to half-adozen non-performing ministers and cutting to size a few others such as Bharti and Goel. The message may not be lost on others who have managed to survive.
That Modi put a premium on performance while revamping his team was evident from promotion of ministers such as Piyush Goyal, Pradhan, Sitharaman and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to cabinet rank. Ministers of state such as Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Santosh Gangwar were given independent charge. All of them were known to be efficient.
Petroleum minister Pradhan was given the added responsibility of skill development, which has been a big disappointment. Goyal was tasked to turn around the railways.
Sitharaman’s choice as defence minister might be a surprise, but she has the proven ability to respond to new challenges, be it in her capacity as a BJP spokesperson in her initial years or as commerce minister later.
What left many perplexed was the PM’s decision to induct domain experts but give them responsibilities unrelated to their core areas of competence. Former diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri was made minister of housing and urban affairs, former home secretary RK Singh the power minister, Delhi “Demolition Man” KJ Alphons the minister of tourism, and former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh a junior minister of human resource development and water resources. But the idea, say ruling party leaders, is to bring professional competence, efficiency, and more administrative experience into the government, regardless of their areas of expertise.
Modi might have played a gambit by bringing new faces as they might not have much time to settle in and turn things around ahead of 2019 polls. But given that here is a proactive PMO that guides and monitors functioning of ministers, they might get going sooner than one expects.