Focus on talent, state elections

Over five months since the BJP came to power at the Centre amidst hopes of a new direction in India’s development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reshuffled and expanded his original ministry.

Twenty-one new ministers have climbed Modi’s bandwagon taking the total number to 66. The intention seems to be to take forward the promise of an efficient administration.

The choice of Suresh Prabhu as Railway Minister, even at the cost of irritating the BJP’s ally Shiv Sena, is a clear indicator that Modi will take his chances where governance is concerned. That Prabhu resigned from the Shiv Sena, joined the BJP and got into the ministry – all in a matter of few hours – points to the importance Modi gave to this induction.

So too the other talked-about entry, that of Manohar Parrikar as Defence Minister. Parrikar who was ensconced in Goa as chief minister was pulled out of his comfort zone and brought to Delhi, his reputation as an efficient administrator and a clean hand probably forcing Modi to unsettle him. These two are among the four technocrats whom the PM inducted, indicating he needs talent in the ministry.

The expansion seems to be serving other purposes as well. The Assembly elections in Bihar late next year must have been on top of Modi’s mind as three of the new ministers are from that state. So too are four from Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls in 2017.

The other state where civic elections are due shortly followed by Assembly elections in 2016 is West Bengal and Modi has made it a point to induct one minister from there. Emphasis has also been given to Punjab where BJP’s relations with its long-time alliance partner Akali Dal are not too cosy.

The expansion has proved to be a dampener of sorts for Karnataka’s D V Sadananda Gowda who was shifted from the railway ministry to law and justice, which is a relatively lower profile one but by no means a lightweight ministry. Irrespective of whether he was shifted because of a perceived inefficiency or not what matters for Gowda is he has been given another chance to prove himself.   

A sore point in the Modi ministry is the lack of proper representation to south India – there are only nine representatives in the government from five southern states. Modi, in expanding his ministry, has all but given a go-by to his election-time promise of “minimum government maximum governance”. The other negative is in the number of women in his expanded ministry, which has dropped from 15 to 12 per cent. But no one will complain as long as his ministry delivers.