New Delhi, June 28
Union Home Minister L.K. Advani is tipped to be the country’s sixth Deputy Prime Minister when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee executes a major restructuring of the government on Monday paving the way for the overhaul of the BJP.
As BJP President K. Jana Krishnamurthi is now certain to join the Union Cabinet, the Prime Minister is in the process of giving final touches to his exercise which is being undertaken with an eye on the Assembly elections in 10 states next year and next Lok Sabha election.
The final list of those joining or being dropped from the Council of Ministers and of those being drafted for the party work will take shape at a meeting tomorrow which will be attended by Union Home Minister L.K. Advani, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan, former party President Kushabhau Thakre and others.
Being billed as the biggest restructuring exercise undertaken by the NDA government, Mr Vajpayee has prepared the ground with ruthlessness when he made Mr Krishnamurthi relent from his earlier stand of not joining the government.
Not only that the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra was directed to do some plain talking to Mr Krishnamurthi but even senior leaders like former Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhwat, who is tipped to be the country’s next Vice-President, and BJP General Secretary Pyarelal Khandelwal were drafted to convince the BJP President to
relinquish his party charge and move to the government.
Finally, Mr Vajpayee himself talked to Mr Krishnamurthi on telephone from Lucknow. The BJP President, after giving his resignation letter to party Vice-President Kailashpati Mishra, later left for Chennai. He will go to
Kanchi and take oath on Monday.
The BJP high command, comprising Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani, took strong exception to Mr Krishnamurthi telling the media that he was not going to join the Council of Ministers, source said.
Names of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rural Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu are being mentioned as the next BJP President.
Sources said Mr Rajnath Singh was the front-runner in the race for the party presidentship with Mr Naidu and Mrs Swaraj following him in that order. The battle of votes was going to be fought in North India and that is where Mr Rajnath Singh had an upper hand. Mr Naidu may still be in the party as a powerful General Secretary and spokesman, sources pointed out, adding that Minister of State for Commerce Rudra Pratap Ruddi may also be out of the government for party work. Mrs Swaraj is understood to have declined the offer of going to the party.
The sources said Law Minister Arun Jaitley may also be considered for some party job but the Prime Minister was more inclined to use his services in the government.
However, Mr Jaitley has told the party high command that he was at the disposal of the party leadership.
The sources said Mr Fernandes had mooted the idea of Mr Advani being designated as Deputy Prime Minister as the Prime Minister was keen to have the stand of the NDA allies on the issue of who after Mr Vajpayee.
The most crucial decision that the Prime Minister has to take is on Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha who, according to party sources, has to go but his replacement is still to be found.
One possibility being talked about is that External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Mr Sinha may be directed to swap positions.
Mr Vajpayee may eventually keep the External Affairs
portfolio with him with a Minister of State looking after the ministry. But the Prime Minister is more inclined to retain Mr Jaswant Singh in his present position because of his close rapport with foreign governments, including the USA.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah may be appointed as a roving minister without a specific portfolio as his hands may be full because of impending Assembly elections in the next few months, the sources said, adding that he may be assigned a task later.
Minister of Urban Affairs Ananth Kumar, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Satyanarayan Jatia, Health Minister C.P. Thakur and Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation Maneka Gandhi, Minister of State for Communication Tapan Sikdar are some of the names who are going to be dropped for non-performance.
BJP spokesmen Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Sunil Shastri, cine star and crowd-puller Shatrughan Sinha are likely to find berths in the Council of Ministers.
The talk of reshuffle gained ground after the Goa executive of the BJP decided to strengthen the organisation for which some Central ministers would be also drafted. But it was put off till now because of the government’s preoccupation with the developments on the India-Pakistan border.
