LOK SABHA MPS OUTNUMBER RS COUNTERPARTS IN NDA CABINET

NEW DELHI: The Sunday reshuffle of council of ministers may have increased the number of Rajya Sabha MPs in the cabinet slightly, but it maintains a sharp distinction from the previous Manmohan Singh government by retaining the dominance of Lok Sabha MPs in the government.

Three out of four new faces among cabinet ministers — Manohar Parrikar, Birender Singh and Suresh Prabhu — are not a member of either House. Jagat Prakash Nadda is from the Upper House.

The reshuffle increases number of cabinet ministers from 23 to 27, eight of which are members of the Rajya Sabha. Parrikar will on Monday file his nomination for the Nov 20 Rajya Sabha election from Uttar Pradesh, Birender Singh and Suresh Prabhu may also take the Rajya Sabha route to enter Parliament.

Even the previous UPA regime, under Manmohan Singh — who was also a RS member — had several senior ministers belonging to the Rajya Sabha.

This included defence minister A K Antony, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh among others.

But under NDA 2, the bulk of the powerful portfolios — including Finance, Defence, HRD, Urban Development, Law and Telecom — are with cabinet minister who are RS members. Even among the ministers of state with independent charges, the powerful ones incharge of portfolios like Power, Coal, Commerce, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Environment are all with those from the Rajya Sabha.

Still, Modi has inducted a large number of Lok Sabha MPs as junior ministers. 15 out of 21 new faces inducted on Sunday are from the Lok Sabha and 12 of them have got ministers of state rank.