Ministerial vacancies in focus as govt nears 2 years of term

MAY 25 WILL ALSO MARK TWO YEARS OF THE POSITION OF THE LOK SABHA DEPUTY SPEAKER LYING VACANT

As the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government completes the second year of its second consecutive term in office on May 30, the focus has again shifted to vacancies that have arisen in the Union council of ministers will be filled any time soon -- especially in the context of reports that leaders who joined the party in the past year-and-half, or gave up claims to positions in their state, would be accommodated at the Centre.

But that isn’t the only second anniversary coming up. May 25 will mark two years of the position of the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha lying vacant -- ever since the AIADMK’s M Thambidurai demitted office on May 25, 2019.

People aware of the thinking in party and government circles said there is no indication of when the much-awaited cabinet expansion or reshuffle will take place, even though there was considerable speculation that a rejig was imminent after the first wave of the pandemic.

As on date, four ministers have additional charge of ministries after the incumbent passed on, suffered an ailment or injury, or broke away from the NDA. There’s Union minister for information and broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar who in addition to environment and forests also has the charge of heavy industries since November 2019 when the Shiv Sena pulled out of the NDA . The Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant earlier held that portfolio. Union minister for railways Piyush Goyal was given additional charge of the consumer affairs ministry in October after the passing of LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan.

Similarly, Narendra Singh Tomar, who was already handling three ministries, agriculture, rural development and panchayati raj, was given the additional charge of ministry of food processing in September last year after Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal quit the cabinet as Akali Dal decided to quit the NDA over the farm laws.

After the passing of Suresh Angadi in September , the position of minister of State for railways has also been lying vacant.

More recently, Union minister for sports Kiren Rijiju was given additional charge of the Ayush ministry after Shripad Naik who has independent charge of the ministry was injured in a road accident in January. Naik is still recuperating.

“There are some vacancies that need to be filled. There are some hopefuls who have been expecting to land a position in the council of ministers but so far there is no clarity on when this will be done. At present the government has its hands full trying to control the second wave of the corona pandemic,” said a senior party leader who asked not to be named.

The council of ministers currently has 21 ministers. There are nine ministers of state with independent charge; of these, Rajkumar Singh, Mansukh Mandviya, Jitender Singh, Rijiju, Hardeep Puri and Naik are also ministers of state with additional ministries. The total number of ministers of state is 23.

The ruling dispensation has lost three allies, the Shiv Sena, the Akali Dal and the LJP since 2019. Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), rejoined the NDA in 2017, but it does not have representation in the Centre.

The government has also not proposed any candidate for the Lok Sabha deputy speaker’s post for two years. This is the longest period for which that post has remained vacant. Parliament managers pointed out that the post, by convention, goes to an Opposition party. With the BJP averse to the Congress getting that post, the government was looking at options from other Opposition parties. Commenting on the post, a second BJP functionary who asked not to be named said: “No decision has been taken so far. Since the pandemic has also affected the functioning of Parliament, it is likely that the process will pick up pace once sessions can be resumed normally.”