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Union Cabinet : Manmohan finally acts

	October 30, 2006

Pranab shifted to External Affairs, Defence goes to Antony



The long wait for an External Affairs Minister ended on Tuesday, Oct. 24 with the shifting of Pranab Mukherjee, the senior-most in the UPA Cabinet after the Prime Minister, from Defence to the Foreign Office. In a surprise move, three times Kerala Chief Minister and former Union Minister, A.K. Antony, was inducted into the cabinet as Defence Minister. Along with him, two Ministers of State also took office. Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), who had been forced to quit the Council of Ministers a few months back when a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him in Bihar, was brought back as Minister of State for Water Resources, his original portfolio. Former film star, Malavalli H. Ambareesh, noted for playing the role of an angry man in Kannada movies, became Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting.



Oscar Fernandes who was working as Minister of State without Portfolio was given Independent charge of Labour and Employment, the portfolio held by the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi chief K. Chandrashekhra Rao before he resigned from the Manmohan Singh Government on the issue of lack of action by the Congress-led UPA on setting up a separate Telangana state.



Panchayati Raj and Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar was given additional charge of Development of the North Eastern Region (DONER), which was earlier with Tribal Affairs Minister P.R. Kyndiah.



Observers say that the minor changes in the Council of Ministers may be the precursor to larger changes in Government expected between the Winter and Budget sessions of Parliament, or after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections early next year.



The shifting of Pranab Mukherjee to the External Affairs Ministry has relieved the Prime Minister of the burden of looking after External Affairs in the absence of a separate full-fledged Minister in-charge of the portfolio. Dr. Manmohan Singh had been overseeing the ministry since the exit of Natwar Singh in the wake of the UN report on the Iraq oil-for-food scam which named him as one of the non-contractual beneficiaries. Speaking to newspersons after the swearing in ceremony of the new ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Dr. Manmohan Singh said, “I am very relieved at having a cabinet rank Minister to oversee External Affairs.” It is widely believed that Pranab Mukherjee was not very enthusiastic about going back to a Ministry he had served over a decade ago in the P.V. Narasimha Rao Government and would have preferred to remain Defence Minister, or move to Home Affairs. One reason for his reluctance, sources say, was that his position as an effective No. 2 in the Government - he presides over Cabinet meetings when the prime Minister is absent - could be affected by his new assignment. However, the Prime Minister felt strongly that he needed a “tried, tested and trusted” leader at the helm of the Ministry of External Affairs at this delicate stage in India’s engagement with the world and did not want to experiment with either a man of the past like Dr. Karan Singh or try out something entirely new such as Maharashtra Governor S.M. Krishna whose names were being talked about as potential External Affairs Minister.





Congress organizational changes next



A.K. Antony’s choice as Defence Minister is reported to have been influenced by his clean image at a time when many big-ticket defence procurements are in the offing. Defence deals have often been mired in allegations of kick-backs and the Government did not want to give the opposition more ammunition for targeting it.



Talking to mediapersons after the swearing in at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, when asked whether A.K. Antony had been “reluctant”, said “yes”. She added that the reshuffle had paved the way for organisational changes at AICC. “Hopefully, there will be changes in the party very soon,” she said.



Asked about the much-discussed induction of Rahul Gandhi as a party office bearer, she showed signs of exasperation, stating, “you have asked me too many times, now put the question to him.” It is apparent there is no progress on the younger Gandhi’s “plunge” into organisational duties.



Sonia disagreed with the view that there had been a steady exodus of experience from the party to government and denied that partymen wanted too often to become Ministers. “I thought it was the other way around,” she said pointedly.



Mukherjee, who had earlier been cool to suggestions that he handle MEA, limited himself to remarking that the composition of the Cabinet and portfolios was the Prime Minister’s prerogative.





Tasks before the new External Affairs Minister



Pranab Mukherjee steered clear of controversy as he took charge of the room on the first floor of South Block he had vacated ten years ago. He told reporters, his first priority is to ensure peace in the neighbourhood and to help create conditions that allow India to sustain a growth rate of 9 to 10 per cent annually. “As we cannot alter our neighbours, it is desirable to coexist and live with them in peace, and create a tension-free situation on our borders,” he said.







The new External Affairs Minister said that “peace and tranquility in the region and in other parts of the world” is “most important” to ensure that India succeeds in achieving sustained high economic growth of 9-10 per cent and above. To achieve high growth rates, he said he would lay renewed emphasis on economic diplomacy. “To attain high economic growth, India will require investments and access to state of the art technology.”



To queries on evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai train blasts, Mukherjee said, “Our law enforcement agencies have gathered certain evidence and it will be shared with Pakistan.”



Among his earlier tasks will be to evolve a credible joint mechanism against terror with Pakistan, the outline of which is likely to be ready before Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan arrives in New Delhi for foreign secretary-level talks in November. After that, Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri will review the bilateral composite dialogue process and decide on the way ahead.





National interest first, says new Defence Minister



New Defence Minister A.K. Antony, after assuming office had an important piece of advice to all those in public life - Ministers, Parliamentarians and officials : “We are all living in a transparent democracy. People are scanning every action of a public man. Everyone should be aware of that. I will try and protect national interest to the utmost.”



Antony was responding to a question on whether probes into defence deals were aimed at settling political scores.



“I have had a discussion with the Defence Secretary and other officials. Some important areas like modernisation of the armed forces and the problems being faced by them in general were brought to my notice,” Antony told reporters. However, he ducked most queries saying that he would react on policy matters only after receiving a detailed briefing.



Observers say that the decision to divest P.R. Kyndiah of the portfolio of Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER) proves that New Delhi meant business. DONER was created in 2001 during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was accorded a Ministry status by the UPA Government when it came to power in May 2004.



“It is not necessarily that the DONER Minister shall have to be from the north-east. We want someone who understands the north-east and interested to develop the region and Aiyar is one person who seems keen to do something positive,” a senior Congress Minister in Meghalaya said.



“Although Kyndiah was from the north-east, he failed in his mission as he did not keep in touch with the ground realities in the region and had no connection with the masses,” an analyst said.



Ambareesh’s entry into the Union Ministry is expected to give a boost to the Congress party in Karnataka in general and the Vokkaligas therein in particular. The Vokkaligas in the Congress have received a ‘shoddy’ treatment for several years now and have even complained to the Congress high command about this. The Vokkaligas have no representation in the Rajya Sabha and in the All-India Congress Committee.



The other dominant community in the State, Veerashaivas (Lingayats), also have a similar complaint although Rajasekharan was accommodated in the Union Council of Ministers in 2004.



Ambareesh’s elevation is expected to give a boost to the Congress campaign in the prestigious by-election to the Chamundeshwari Assembly Constituency in Mysore. The party candidate and former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah needs the votes of Vokkaligas and this obviously is one way of telling the Vokkaliga voters that the Congress is with them.