PM misses chance of image correction
By Kalyani Shankar
A day before the cabinet reshuffle I asked a top source what was holding up the reshuffle and he promptly said it was due to lack of talent that the PM and Sonia Gandhi were not able to decide the changes. He startled me by asking, “Give me ten names ” and I answered that if they were not there, PM should try to get them from the market. In fact, Manmohan Singh is a shining example of how outsiders could adapt to the political system. Late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao chose him to be his Finance minister when there was a total economic chaos in the country. In any case, the Congress cannot complain about lack of talent, as this aspect should have been taken into consideration during the ticket distribution for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Singh has undertaken the latest cabinet rejig, which is described by one and all as routine. He has also made it cleat that the UPA-2 will go for the 2014 polls with this team and there will be no more reshuffle.
The present political atmosphere made every one watch the Prime Minister and the UPA chief Sonia Gandhi closely how they tackle the cabinet reshuffle. The government is facing one crisis after the other, one scam after the other. Prices are soaring sky high and food inflation has crossed double digits. Foreign investors are hesitating to invest in India due to the high level of corruption. Supreme Court has become pro active. In this scenario, people were watching the PM’s move. Was he going to implement a Kamaraj Plan or was he going to be ruthless in axing his inefficient or corrupt ministers or those involved in some controversy? Has he chosen the right man for the right job? Has he established his authority in these crisis days? The answer to all these is an emphatic NO.
The new team has ultimately turned out to be an exercise of musical chairs and sends neither a strong political nor economic signal. It has neither the stamp of Sonia Gandhi or the Prime Minister as nothing spectacular has been attempted. If any one had expected a Kamaraj plan, he or she would be disappointed. When PM had announced in January that he was going for a major restructuring of his cabinet there were expectations that he would really do so but as usual, this was one more exercise with the cabinet maintaining a status quo with the addition of a few new faces.
Every move of the Prime Minister should have some purpose, and more so while reshuffling. Expectations were raised high but the reshuffle does not restore the credibility of the government. It does not signify that the PM has made a mid course correction. Dead wood has not been weeded out. Incompetent ministers have not been sacked. Corrupt ministers have not been shown the door. The average age of the cabinet is about 65. In fact, it is clear PM does not want to make any drastic changes. This was one occasion that some heavy weights from the government could have been shifted to the party.
What is the political signal sent by this reshuffle? The first is that The PM has not kept any room for addition of new allies like RLD, as it is already a jumbo cabinet. Despite the size of the cabinet, some ministers are still holding dual portfolios.
The second is that the council of ministers is slowly gaining more of Rahul Gandhi loyalists. Some would even say that this is a rehearsal for the 2014 elections. Rahul is slowly building up his team. This includes seniors like Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, C.P Joshi, Purandareswari, Salman Khurshid and juniors like Jitender Singh, Milind Deora, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasad and R.P.N. Singh.
Thirdly, the Congress has shown that as the big brother it has kept the allies under control. While the DMK has not provided the replacement for Raja and Dayanidhi Maran, their portfolios have been kept for them.
Within the Congress, the party has sent a signal to the poll-bound UP by elevating Beni Prasad Verma and including Rajiv Shukla. But there is no signal to other poll -bound states like Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Punjab. Instead Tamil Nadu got the lottery by the inclusion of Jayanti Natarajan.
As for economic signal to India and abroad, there is not much change in infrastructure portfolios. The power ministry remains with Shinde while Railways has gone to the Trinamool Congress. There is no change in roads and transport, coal, steel, petroleum, heavy industry etc, which will give some confidence to the foreign investors who are shying away form investing in India. If India wants to be a global power, the infrastructure plays an important role. There is also no signal that the second-generation reforms would be coming soon. The Americans and other foreign investors are pushing for these reforms.
Secondly, PM has not brought in any prominent persons to his cabinet who could instill public confidence. The most important message should have been that price rise and inflation would be brought under control and this is absent, Competent ministers like Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and R.P.N. Singh could have been projected better but being junior ministers, they are overshadowed by their seniors who more often do not allocate adequate work to them.
Thirdly, not touching the big four also means that the PM had no intention of doing anything serious. It is common knowledge that Foreign minister S.M. Krishna is not suitable to perform his duties in a ministry, which needs extensive travelling. With more and more attacks from the opposition on Home Minister P. Chidambaram he could have been shifted to the External Affairs and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma could have been given that portfolio. PM has sent a signal that he is quite happy with the state of affairs while the whole country is agitated. (IPA Service)