Reshuffle recedes in the face of 'Shradh'

Even if it is unclear as of now when exactly the cabinet reshuffle will take place, the first few rounds of discussions between UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and prime minister Manmohan Singh are over.

It seems that a broad consensus is emerging as far as regional representation in the cabinet is concerned but there is no finality yet about the bigwigs who may have to be shifted out from the party to the government and vice versa.

There is an uncertainty about an early reshuffle creeping in. President Pranab Mukherjee is out of town and will return on Friday. The Congress has a small window of opportunity for a couple of days before the “shradh” (inauspicious) period begins.

Congress governments in the past have seldom undertaken an exercise like a reshuffle during the shradh period. In fact, there is talk in government circle that if the reshuffle does not happen this Saturday or Sunday then it would have to be deferred till mid-October.

States which may be the largest beneficiaries of this reshuffle are Maharashtra, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Maharashtra has lost a minister in the demise of Vilasrao Deshmukh. And the aspirants include Gurudas Kamat, Nagpur MP Vilas Muttemwar and state industries minister Narayan Rane. At this stage only Rane has been ruled out because the party high command does not want to disturb the equilibrium in the state.

As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, the likelihood
of film star Chiranjeevi being inducted is high. It may be
recalled that Chiranjeevi had merged his state outfit with the Congress. Similarly Renuka Chowdhury, former minister, may be brought into the cabinet after a gap of several years.

There were some discussions regarding moving back Jaipal Reddy to Hyderabad and making him the chief minister in place of Kiran Reddy but those thoughts have been set aside for the time being.

West Bengal has almost become unrepresented in the ministerial council after Pranab Mukherjee got elected as the president and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee withdrew her six representatives. It is likely that three leaders from Bengal will be sworn in. The first preferences seem to be West Bengal Pradesh Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya and then two Lok Sabha MPs, Deepa Das Munshi and Adhir Choudhury.

The exercise is expected to take away a portfolio each from ministers holding dual charges. These include Kapil Sibal who apart from being the human resource development minister holds additional charge of the telecom ministry.

Anand Sharma looks after textiles other than his core portfolio of commerce. Veerappa Moily has been entrusted with power apart from corporate affairs. Salman Khurshid is in charge of both law and minority affairs. The highways minister CP Joshi has been given the additional charge of railways.

There is a possibility that an exception might be made in the case of finance minister P Chidambaram who may be given charge of corporate affairs and thereby asked to look after two crucial portfolios. There is talk of bringing in Sonia Gandhi’s confidant and party stalwart Janardan Dwivedi as the HRD minister. Former deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha K Rahman Khan may be given charge of minority affairs.

Manish Tewari may get a ministerial berth and so may Meenakshi Natarajan. Two key members of the Rahul brigade who may make it to full cabinet berths are Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot. There could be changes in the portfolio and the nature of responsibilities of both health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and I&B minister Ambika Soni.

As a fall out of the coal allocation scam, two Union ministers Subodh Kant Sahay and Sriprakash Jaiswal may be shown the door.