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Minor Cabinet reshuffle : Need for political consolidation |
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The recent Cabinet reshuffle effected by Prime Minister Vajpayee held little surprises. In fact, observers consider it an exercise of the BJP to consolidate its coalition prior to general elections due next year. Appeasing the temperamental Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee did not work.
The Coal ministry offered to her was not to her liking and she went back to Kolkata, claiming she had no complaints! And that she was quite happy at being a Minister without portfolio. According to PMO sources, unless she rethinks on her refusal to accept Coal, she may well be on the wait till at least September 25, when Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee returns from his foreign visit, that started on September 13. “Ministry or no ministry, it doesn’t matter. I am not going to fight for a portfolio. There is no humiliation for me. I know many leaders who wanted to be in the council of ministers without portfolios.’’ This was the cynical comment of Mamata before she left New Delhi, an unhappy leader.
A surprise choice was MDMK leader Gingee Ramachnadran, who had to leave the government earlier when his personal secretary was caught handing out favours for money to officials who has wanted transfers to plum posts. Ironically, the CBI is yet to give a clean chit to him.
The elevation of Ms Banerjee and Ramachandran may help them stabilise their parties, which have been under a strain because of dissenting noises within the Trinamul Congress and MDMK leader Vaiko’s continued incarceration in Tamil Nadu. But the exercise is unlikely to serve any of these purposes.
For Mamata is now very much at a loose end in West Bengal. Her strange policies, which involved switching back and forth between the Congress and the BJP, have ensured that her party is no longer the force it once was. There is no question as of now of it posing a serious challenge to the CPI(M). The fallout of this dwindling influence is that Ms Banerjee’s own popularity as well as control over her own party are diminishing. As much is evident from the mini-revolts in her party by Ajit Panja and Sudip Bandopadhyay. Observers point out neither can she claim the high moral ground any longer, having returned to the Union ministry even before the inquiry into the Tehelka scam (over which she resigned) is over.
Ramachandran’s, of course, is a scam of another kind, involving a member of his personal staff. But the very fact that he resigned as MOS, Finance, after its exposure and has now returned before it has been buried shows that expediency, rather than scruples, guides both the government and its ministers. Their exits and entries have nothing to do with administrative or even political necessities, let alone principles. Should the Opposition make an issue of it, Ramachandran may become the second minister after Defence Minister George Fernandes to face an Opposition onslaught in Parliament following his re-induction in to the ministry.
The rupture between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, which eventually led the former to withdraw support to the Vajpayee Government, is considered a factor for the reshuffle. There is no threat to the NDA stability. However, what the BSP’s withdrawal has done is to reduce the cushion of comfort that the Prime Minister has enjoyed. The BSP has 14 MPs in the Lok Sabha and the loss of their backing is enough to shake off any complaceny about a parliamentary majority that has been, at the best of times, somewhat slender.
With the general election due in late 2004, the BJP leadership is aware of the importance of building as wide a coalition as possible - a strategy that served the party well in the last two Lok Sabha polls. Seen in this light, the reshuffle could be more of an attempt to shore up whatever political support is available in the run-up to the general election.
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