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analysis
Speculation rife over full-time Defence Minister
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 27
The Narendra Modi government has started functioning, but speculation on the composition have not stopped. A statement by Arun Jaitley that a full-time Defence Minister would be named in a couple of weeks has now started conjectures on who will make it to the strategically crucial ministry.

A few names have already started doing the rounds. They include Arun Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Murli Manohar Joshi — senior BJP leaders who have been left out of the Modi's “compact, young and business like Council of Ministers.”

Among the leaders with the stature to occupy the chair, Shourie is the only person who is on the right side of the age (75 years) set by the RSS as the eligibility criteria for a ministerial berth.

He is 72 while Joshi (80) and Sinha (76) have crossed the age limit. At 79, former Himachal Pradesh CM Shanta Kumar is also way off the mark.

After the surprise entry of Nirmala Sitharaman and Prakash Javadekar-who were almost written off after they failed to make the cut either for a Rajya Sabha or a Lok Sabha ticket-many “left out” leaders may have a reason to feel optimistic. Apparently, the RSS wanted those who worked hard for the party over the years to be rewarded. “Even if they did not contest, they worked hard and stood by the party when it was down and out,” a RSS functionary said.

Six out of the 24 Cabinet ministers are women. As External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj is a part of the powerful Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)-the natio’'s top decision-making body on national security-making her the first woman in three decades (since Indira Gandhi in 1984) to be part of this elite group. Sumitra Mahajan—the longest serving woman MP—appears slated for the post of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Composition

• Cabinet bears Modi and RSS stamp
• Those who worked for party's win rewarded with ministerial berths
• Next on BJP's radar are state elections in Haryana, Maharashtra
• Cabinet has six women members