As prime minister Manmohan Singh gets down to the task of reshuffling his cabinet in a bid to revamp the scam-hit alliance, he is hobbled by more than a few limitations. “The first being the demanding nature of coalition politics, then there is the problem of finding the right talent to fit into the political dynamics of inner party struggles,” said a senior Congress functionary.
On the allies front-Singh has to look after the demands and sensitivities of a much weakened DMK, and an emboldened Trinamool Congress. The DMK may have been battered by the electoral rout in its home state, A Raja and Kanimozhi are in jail for the 2G scam and the possibility of Dayanidhi Maran following them, but it does not diminish their strength in the Lok Sabha.
Thus, Karunanidhi wishes would have to be granted, just as Mamata will call the shots about her railways portfolios and the number of ministries.
The more serious nature of the challenge arises from within the Congress flock. The equation among the big four - SM Krishna, Pranab Mukherjee, AK Antony and Chidambaram poses the toughest reshuffle problem for the prime minister. He needs to be able to juggle the pack effectively else the reshuffle, which is also being seen as an image make-over, will not achieve its desired goal. The ‘civil war’ between Mukherjee and Chidambaram is no secret, and no one takes the pro-forma denials on face value, Krishna’s performance has been nothing to gloat about and it is well-known that Antony is beyond anyone’s reach in the power equations.
Then there are issues like age and performance. Singh has gone on record saying he favours a younger ministry. However, given that the average age in the cabinet is 57 and just six ministers — Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasada, Arun Yadav, Prateek Patil and Agatha Sangma — are in their thirties, he does have a lot of scope to bring in young faces.
Then there is the issue of ageing non-performers like Virbhadra Singh, M S Gill, B K Handique, Murli Deora and Sushil Kumar Shinde.
Comments