English हिन्दी
Connect with us

India News

Cabinet reshuffle: Modi rewards performers, emphasis firmly on governance

Published

on

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Of the nine new junior ministers inducted in the council of ministers, 4 are former bureaucrats. Caste equations, politics and regional representation also addressed in rejig 

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally expanded his council of ministers, on Sunday, he once again lived up to his reputation of being unpredictable in his political decisions. Nearly all media organisations who had been predicting various names of possible gainers and losers were proved wrong in a substantive measure as nine new ministers of state – four of whom are former bureaucrats – were sworn-in to the council of ministers by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The new inductions left many stunned – not for the futility of the exercise but for the fact that the Prime Minister finally managed to give an impression that he is serious about governance. However, the promotion of ministers of state with independent charge – Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi – to a cabinet rank was almost on expected lines.

The nine junior ministers inducted into the council of ministers are Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, Shiv Pratap Shukla, Lok Sabha MPs Ashwini Kumar Chaubey (from Buxar, Bihar), Virendra Kumar (Tikamgarh, MP), Anant Kumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada, Karnataka), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Jodhpur, Rajasthan), RK Singh (Arrah, Bihar) and Satyapal Singh (Baghpat, UP) along with KJ Alphons and Hardeep Singh Puri – both of whom are currently not members of either House of Parliament and are likely to be inducted into the Rajya Sabha within the next six months.

The induction of RK Singh, Satyapal Singh, KJ Alphons and Hardeep Puri signals towards Modi’s emphasis on choosing people who understand the complex ropes of bureaucracy and governance. While RK Singh and KJ Alphons are both former IAS officers who have had a distinguished track record, Satyapal Singh is a former IPS officer who has served as Commissioner of Mumbai Police and Hardeep Puri is a former IFS officer who has played important roles at various international forums including the United Nations.

The induction of Puri and Alphons along with the elevation of Naqvi to a cabinet rank also is an effort by the Modi to project his willingness to accommodate minority representation in the council of ministers. Also, Alphons could help the BJP expand its base in Kerala – a state where the saffron party has been desperate to make inroads – as he is known to have excellent relations within the politically significant Syrian Christian community of the state and also the Church which plays an important role in Kerala politics.

The ministers who were elevated to cabinet rank were all found to be good performers in the review of the work of various ministers in the Prime Minister’s council that was carried out by Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah in the run up to the cabinet expansion. While Dharmendra Pradhan’s performance as petroleum minister had won Modi’s attention as he was successful in implementing the Prime Minister’s pet schemes like Ujjwala Yojana, Piyush Goyal’s role in the energy ministry has been termed by observers as proactive and innovative.

Nirmala Sitharaman

Similarly, Sitharaman was seen not only as an above par performer in the Commerce portfolio but also as someone the BJP can use as its political face in Tamil Nadu – which like Kerala has negligible BJP presence at the moment – and for articulating the government’s agenda before the media as she has also served as the party’s spokesperson in the past. Sitharaman, along with finance minister Arun Jaitley, is also in-charge of the BJP’s poll strategy for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections.

Though Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s performance as minority affairs minister has not seen any significant initiatives, he had proved himself to be a capable minister for parliamentary affairs, especially while countering the Opposition on minority-related issues of mob lynchings, beef ban, changing names of roads and railway stations from their Mughal (read Muslim) origin to those that were in line with the Centre’s Hindutva ideology.

The speculation that ministers of state Rajyavardhan Rathore and Jitendra Singh, who were also seen as good performers in their respective ministries, would be elevated proved to be ravings in the grapevine. Ditto for the buzz around the resignation of water resources minister Uma Bharati, who according to sources, had made it a point to send clear signals to the Modi-Shah duo that any attempt to oust her from the cabinet would result in her sabotaging the party through controversial statements.

Governance aside, Modi has made it a point to not ignore politically crucial issues like caste equations and regional representation while expanding his cabinet.

Shiv Pratap

The induction of Shiv Pratap Shukla as a junior minister is an attempt to maintain the balance of Brahmin and Rajput representation from Uttar Pradesh. Shukla is a BJP veteran who hails from UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s constituency of Gorakhpur and is a prominent Brahmin face of the party locally.

Similarly, the induction of Ashwini Chaubey and RK Singh is meant to give greater representation to Bihar where the BJP has recently returned to power in coalition with Nitish Kumar’s JD (U).

The induction of Virendra Kumar, Gajendra Shekhawat and Anant Kumar Hegde has evidently been done keeping in mind the Assembly elections that are due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka respectively over the next 14 months.

Although there was speculation that JD (U) along with AIADMK could get representation in the Union council of ministers, sources said that given the vociferous factional feuds in both these parties, Modi and Shah thought it fit to wait for these fights to resolve before asking their leaders to join the central government. The cabinet expansion only included members from the BJP and Modi once again spurned ally Shiv Sena’s hope of getting an additional cabinet berth or two ministers of state.

The JD (U) and Shiv Sena both called Sunday’s exercise as “an internal reshuffle of the BJP”, with Shiv Sena leaders Sanjay Raut even indicating the party’s displeasure at not getting a berth in the reshuffle by speculating that “this is possibly the BJP’s arrogance of having a majority”.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

India News

Manipur: Congress hits back at BJP chief Nadda’s letter to Kharge

Ramesh emphasised that Nadda’s letter is replete with inaccuracies and reiterated that the people of Manipur long for normalcy, peace, and harmony.

Published

on

The Congress on Friday lashed out at BJP president JP Nadda’s accusations that the Opposition party was promoting a politically motivated narrative concerning the situation in Manipur.

The grand old party described Nadda’s letter to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as a 4D exercise, which means denial, distortion, distraction, and defamation.

Nadda, responding to Kharge’s call for President Droupadi Murmu’s intervention and his claims of the Centre’s total failure in managing the crisis, claimed that the consequences of Congress’s “abject failure” in handling local issues in Manipur during its governance are still being felt today.

Responding to Nadda, Congress General Secretary for Communications Jairam Ramesh stated, “Congress President Kharge ji wrote to the President of India on Manipur. Apparently, to counter that letter, the BJP President has now written to the Congress President.”

Ramesh emphasised that Nadda’s letter is replete with inaccuracies and reiterated that the people of Manipur long for normalcy, peace, and harmony.

He noted that they are posed with four critical questions: When will the Prime Minister visit the state? How much longer will the Chief Minister remain in office despite lacking majority support? When will a full-time Governor be appointed? And when will the Union Home Minister be held accountable for his failures in Manipur?

Nadda expressed astonishment at the Congress’s ongoing efforts to sensationalize the situation in Manipur, pointing out that Kharge appeared to overlook the fact that his party’s past government had legitimized the illegal migration of foreign militants to India, during which former Home Minister P Chidambaram had signed relevant treaties.

On Tuesday, Kharge had written to President Murmu regarding the worsening conditions in Manipur, requesting her immediate intervention to ensure that the citizens of the state can live peacefully and with dignity.

In his two-page letter, Kharge accused both the Union and Manipur state governments of “completely failing” to restore peace and normalcy over the past 18 months, resulting in a loss of public confidence in their leadership.

Continue Reading

India News

Rahul Gandhi is right, Gautam Adani should be arrested: RJD president Lalu Yadav

“Rahul Gandhi is right. Adani should be arrested,” said Prasad, who is an old ally of the Congress and a staunch opponent of the BJP, to which Adani is said to be close.

Published

on

RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Friday spoke in support of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s demand for immediate arrest of Gautam Adani, after the Industrialist was charged in the US for alleged bribery and fraud.

Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said on Thursday that Gautam Adani should be arrested immediately, and his protector Madhabi Puri Buch should be investigated

The former Congress chief claimed that the recent developments vindicate his long-standing allegations against Gautam Adani. He took a sharp dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that Modi is protecting Adani, and is also involved in corruption. 

Yadav, the former chief minister of Bihar, was responding to queries from journalists here about Gandhi’s statement on the previous day, in the backdrop of charges of bribery and fraud against the Adani group in the US.

“Rahul Gandhi is right. Adani should be arrested,” said Prasad, who is an old ally of the Congress and a staunch opponent of the BJP, to which Adani is said to be close.

The RJD supremo, who incidentally has been convicted in several fodder scam cases and is on bail, was also asked about prospects of the INDIA bloc, of which his party is a part, in Jharkhand, where the counting of votes for assembly polls is scheduled on Saturday.

Speaking to PTI, the ailing septuagenarian replied, “I would like to remain focused on my statement that Adani must be arrested. I am not worried much about a new government (in Jharkhand) where we are already in power.” Jharkhand witnessed a straight battle between the INDIA bloc and the BJP-led NDA, which included the JD(U) headed by Nitish Kumar, Prasad’s arch-rival and the current Chief Minister of Bihar.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Gandhi further said that Chief Ministers have been jailed for scams of Rs 10-15 crore, but Adani, who has committed a scam of Rs 2000 crore is walking free.

Continue Reading

India News

Cash for votes row: BJP leader Vinod Tawde sends legal notice to Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, asks them to apologise or face defamation

The BJP leader said the allegations against him were false, baseless and made with malafide intentions.

Published

on

Cash for votes row: BJP leader Vinod Tawde sends legal notice to Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, asks them to apologise or face defamation

BJP leader Vinod Tawde, accused of distributing cash to influence voters, has sent a legal notice to Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Supriya Shrinate and Rahul Gandhi over the controversy. The BJP leader has demanded their apologies or face a Rs 100-crore defamation case.

Vinod Tawde’s legal notice came after regional party Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) leader Hitendra Thakur on Tuesday accused him of distributing Rs 5 crore at a hotel in Virar in Palghar district, 60 km from Mumbai, to woo voters.

In the legal notice, the BJP leader said the allegations against him were false, baseless and made with malafide intentions. He claimed that he demanded an apology from the three Congress leaders for their remarks against him in the cash-for-votes row or he would be forced to initiate criminal proceedings against them.

Just a few hours before the Assembly Elections, a video went viral on Tuesday showing BVA workers storming into the hotel in Palghar during a meeting between Vinod Tawde and Rajan Naik, the BJP candidate from the Nalasopara seat. The BVA workers alleged that Tawde was caught red-handed with Rs 5 crore cash.

In the viral video, the BVA workers were seen taking out bundles of cash from a bag, while Tawde was sitting at a distance. The BVA workers also took pictures and videos of him on their phones. Amid these allegations, BVA leaders said that Rs 5 crore cash was distributed, an election official on Tuesday said Rs 9.93 lakh cash was recovered from the hotel rooms.

However, Vinod Tawde denied the allegation, saying he was only providing guidance to party workers on poll procedures and said he was not stupid enough to distribute money at his opponent’s hotel. Speaking to the media, he said that the Vivanta Hotel is owned by the Thakurs, and he is not stupid to go to their hotel and distribute money there.

The Police registered two FIRs against Tawde, BJP candidate Naik and others in connection with the controversy. Additionally, the Election Commission filed three FIRs against Tawde.

Continue Reading

Trending

© Copyright 2022 APNLIVE.com