Team Modi has new stars, new stripes
State polls, economy the focus as 21 ministers sworn in, Parrikar gets defence, Prabhu railways
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday expanded his council of ministers, with an eye on balancing regional representation ahead of assembly polls as well as bringing in those with policy and professional backgrounds to add heft to the government’s bid to revive the flagging economy.
The reshuffle has seen some big changes. The country has new defence, health, law, railways, rural development ministers among others. With four cabinet, three ministers of state (independent charge) and 14 ministers of state taking oath, the council of ministers, including the PM, is now 66-member strong.
However, the first expansion of the Modi ministry led to further souring of BJP-Shiv Sena ties after Sena nominee Anil Desai sat out the swearing-in.
Former Goa chief minister Manohar Parikkar is the new defence minister. Finance and corporate affairs minister Arun Jaitley drops defence but adds information and broadcasting portfolio.
BJP vice-president JP Nadda, an old-party hand, has been given the health ministry. Incumbent Harsh Vardhan has been moved to science and technology and earth sciences. Birender Singh, who shifted to the BJP from the Congress ahead of the Haryana polls, is the new rural development minister.
Suresh Prabhu has been handed over the crucial railways ministry. Before taking oath, Prabhu walked out of the Sena to join the BJP — exacerbating the rift between the two parties. Prabhu enjoyed reputation of being an efficient minister in the earlier NDA government. He is the PM’s sherpa for the upcoming G20 summit in Australia.
Prabhu replaces D Sadanand Gowda who has been moved to law.
Ravi Shankar Prasad retains telecom.
The expansion was clearly aimed at the upcoming state elections, as the BJP seeks to expand its national footprint. Three new ministers were from Bihar, which goes to the polls in 2015; one from West Bengal, which will see fresh polls in 2016, and four from Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due in 2017.
Two Dalits ministers were added to the team in a bid to counter the perception that the BJP is associated with upper and intermediate castes. This takes the number of Dalits in the council to five.
It is a much younger team, with the average age of the council of ministers at 59 compared to 73 under the previous UPA government. The first expansion of the Modi ministry had a visible RSS imprint, with more than six ministers having a Sangh background.
The independent ministers of state include Bandaru Dattatreya, a BJP MP from Telangana, takes charge of labour ministry. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a senior Bihar leader who was the party’s in-charge of Maharashtra polls, too, found a place as a minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship.
Dr Mahesh Sharma, a firsttime MP from Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) constituency, who owns a chain of hospitals, will be MoS for culture and tourism ministries, with independent charge.
Shripad Naik is now MoS (independent) in charge of AYUSH. General (retd) VK Singh has been divested of the ministry of development of Northeast region. The portfolio has been handed over to MoS in PMO Jitendra Singh.
The ministers of state included Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a prominent party face in the media and a Muslim from Uttar Pradesh. will be the minister of state for minority affairs and parliamentary affairs. Jayant Sinha, son of BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and first-time MP from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, is the new MoS (finance). Nirmala Sitharaman drops finance but retains commerce with independent charge. Bihar, which goes to the polls next year, continued to get more representation, with former Lalu Prasad aide Ram Kripal Yadav being given charge of drinking water and sanitation. The controversial Giriraj Singh joins as the minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises. He came under fire during the election campaign for saying that those who opposed Modi could go to Pakistan.
Rajasthan, too, saw additional representatives, with Rajyavardhan Rathore – an Olympic medalist taking over as MoS (I&B), and Sanwar Lal Jat – who defeated Sachin Pilot in Ajmer in the Lok Sabha
polls, also finding a place in the ministry.
The BJP stepped up the offensive in Bengal and brought in popular singer and first time MP, Babul Supriyo, as minister of state in urban development.