M A I N   N E W S

Sulking Uma reinducted
Jaitley given Cabinet rank
From T.R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Nov 7 — In a bid to mollify ruffled feathers in the BJP and restore balance with respect to the newly created state of Uttaranchal, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee reinducted Ms Uma Bharti along with a first timer in Major-Gen S.C. Khanduri (retd) in his Council of Ministers here this evening.

In a widely-anticipated move, Mr Vajpayee elevated Mr Arun Jaitley looking after Law, Justice and Company Affairs to Cabinet rank. He has also been given additional charge of Shipping.

A sulking Ms Bharati returns to the Vajpayee government in the new avatar of Cabinet minister. She has been given charge of Youth Affairs and Sports which was being overseen by Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. Mr Dhindsa has been given charge of the key Chemicals and Fertilisers Ministry.

The ailing Union Minister, Mr Sundar Lal Patwa, was looking after Chemicals, Fertilisers and Mines. Considering the state of his health, the Prime Minister has sought to reduce Mr Patwa’s burden. Henceforth, Mr Patwa will be in charge of only the Mines portfolio.

General Khanduri, who has long been tipped as a ministerial berth at the Centre, makes his advent as minister of state with independent charge of Surface Transport and Highways.

There was a major glitch with regard to providing direly needed representation at the Centre to Jharkhand which attains statehood at the stroke of midnight on August 14. Mr Karia Munda, who lost the race for the Chief Minister’s post to Babu Lal Marandi, was conspicuous by his absence at the swearing-in ceremony.

Mr Munda’s name was on the list of ministers despatched to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony but the tribal leader abstained to express his annoyance.

Mr Munda was apparently miffed by the fact that he had only been offered the rank of minister of state this time whereas in the first instance during Mr Vajpayee’s all-too short stint as head of the government for 13 days in 1996, he had been accommodated as a Cabinet minister. He was being given the Forest and Environment portfolio. Mr Marandi, who had handled the same portfolio as an MOS in the BJP-led NDA government has since resigned.

The President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Jaitley, Ms Bharati and General Khanduri.

For the second time, the Cabinet expansion-cum-marginal adjustment of portfolios was an all-BJP affair.

Ms Bharati, who dabbled in some high voltage drama after having made her exit of her own volition from the Vajpayee government, makes a comeback after performing penance at the pilgrim centre of Kedarnath.

Considering her temperamental nature and inability to work in concert with a senior minister, Mr Vajpayee has made her the numero uno of the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry. What indeed hastened her re-entry in the Vajpayee government was her credentials as a vocal woman leader of the backward classes.

Though she hails from Madhya Pradesh, the BJP leadership believes her services can be utilised in Uttar Pradesh to blunt the machinations of former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh who is now charting his own course having been expelled from the BJP.

Assembly elections are due in Uttar Pradesh in the later part of next year. With Uttaranchal having been carved out of Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is fighting with its back to the wall. The party’s chances of retaining power in Uttar Pradesh appears rather bleak at this juncture because of the alienation of the backward class as well as the powerful upper castes. It is in this context that the BJP think tank believes that Ms Bharati can help in bringing around the backward sections in Uttar Pradesh.

Another small adjustment made by Mr Vajpayee is in respect of Minister of State Arun Shourie holding independent charge of Disinvestment. Additionally, he will look after the Planning and Programme Implementation as an MOS under the Prime Minister.

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said Mr Vajpayee did not want to set a new record pertaining to the strength of the Union Council of Ministers. Today’s inductions keeps the jumbo tally pegged at 73, excluding the Prime Minister. The only consolation for the Prime Minister in this is that it is still three short of the all-time high set by former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.

Mr Vajpayee currently heads a ministerial team of 29 Cabinet Ministers, seven ministers of state with independent charge and 37 ministers of state.