Gujral to expand cabinet today

Those being mentioned for the ministry, are Kamla Sinha and Rathnamala Savanur from the Janata Dal, Jayanti Natarajan from the Tamil Maanila Congress and T Sharada from the Telugu Desam Party.

The Prime Minister had wanted to induct Renuka Choudhury but there were some reservations about her in the TDP. The choice was finally to have been approved by TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu today. The Prime Minister met the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister today to discuss the matter. While Kamla Sinha from Bihar is an obvious choice from the JD being an old hand at the game, Rathnamala might be taken thanks to Sharad Yadav. Yadav had insisted in Parliament recently that an OBC quota within the women’s quota must be ensured before the passage of the Constitution (81st amendment) Bill could be considered. Rathnamala is a dalit MP who defeated B Shankaranand in Chikoddi reserved constituency in Karnataka in the 1996 general elections.There could be another angle to the induction of Rathnamala, if it takes place. Ramakrishna Hegde was responsible for her getting the Janata Dal ticket. Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has not made the going easy for Gujral in recent weeks. He is seen to be egging on Sharad Yadav and this is likely to split the Janata Dal. Gujral would like to prevent this from happening for this could rock the boat for him at the Centre.

Gujral was also reportedly in favour of taking Geeta Mukherji from the CPI but the party was not favourably inclined. It was not clear on Monday night whether the Prime Minister had managed to persuade the CPI leadership.

Gujral may also go in for a reshuffle of portfolios. He hinted in an interview to Doordarshan that he would be undertaking both a political and bureaucratic reshuffle of the infrastructure sector. Political observers expect him to axe C M Ibrahim, Gowda’s trouble shooter, who was divested of the I&B portfolio and may now lose the Civil Aviation ministry also. It is also possible that the Prime Minsiter may shift Salim Sherwani to External Affairs as minister of state to share his load, and let one of the women handle the health portfolio which was with the SP leader.