A strategic and tactical reshuffle
Sitharaman as defence minister is a bold move. Allies get nothing
C abinet reshuffles can generally be categorised as tactical or strategic. But the one Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out this Sunday is a mix of both, the headline grabbing changes happening in the ministries of defence, power and railways. The elevation of Nirmala Sitharaman as the country’s first full-fledged woman minister for defence is at once bold and progressive. Of the eight women in the council of ministers, six now are of cabinet rank. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Sitharaman will sit on the key cabinet committee for security (CCS) which also has as its members the PM, home minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Arun Jaitley. Sitharaman’s work in the commerce ministry will be carried forward by Suresh Prabhu, who has been shifted out of railways to make way for Piyush Goyal. The chain is completed with Bihar MP and former home secretary RK Singh succeeding Goyal as minister of state (independent charge) in the power ministry.
Others rewarded with cabinet rank are: Dharmendra Pradhan, who retains petroleum and natural gas with additional charge of skill development, and minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. In injecting fresh blood, Modi seems to have relied on domain specialisation. But the work assigned to former diplomat Hardeep Singh Puri and former IAS Alphons Kannanthanam, both lateral entries as MoS (Independent charge) isn’t in consonance with their known expertise. Be that as it may, Kannanthanam’s induction gives Marxist-ruled Kerala a representation in Modi’s team. The other surprise was the non-representation of the JD (U) that was expected to join the government. In fact, no ally including the Shiv Sena and Akali Dal has got anything. The reshuffle was restricted to the BJP.
After the third rejig in as many years, the NDA ministry is 76-member strong as against the constitutional ceiling of 82 — which is 15% of the strength of the Lok Sabha. Half a dozen slots are still available to Modi to accommodate allies and streamline governance. The need for that could arise sooner rather than later. Several BJP ministers continue to hold concurrent charge of unrelated departments.