Mamata spoils Cabinet party, VHP man gets part of Home

Banerjee sent a fax to Vajpayee urging him to reverse his decision to induct Bandopadhyay into the ministry, pointing out that it is the prerogative of the Trinamool Congress to decide who would be its second minister in the Cabinet. Embarrassed over this faux pas, the BJP sought to suggest that it was the result of ‘‘some miscalculation’’ on its part.

Vajpayee sought to make amends for this sudden turn. He said after the reshuffle that there would be a ‘‘minor reshuffle soon’’, implying that Banerjee would be shortly inducted into the ministry.

He said: ‘‘Talks (with Banerjee) are going on… I was told that her opinion was taken. There is no thinking on breaking Trinamool. We are thinking of giving (it) better representation.’’

President A P J Abdul Kalam administered the oath of office and secrecy to eight ministers — three of Cabinet rank and the rest, ministers of state. Rajnath Singh and Shiv Sena leader Subodh Mohite were sworn in as Cabinet ministers.

So was Bhuvan Chand Khanduri from Uttaranchal, who was promoted to the Cabinet rank. The Ministers of State were P C Thomas (Indian Federal Democratic Party), Swami Chinmayanand, Kailash Meghwal and Prahlad Patel (BJP) and Nagmani (RJD rebel). With this reshuffle, the ministry strength goes up to 81.

Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain, who was at one stage expected to lose his job, not only survived, but also ended up getting textiles. Kashi Ram Rana, who held textiles, got rural development, held by Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar as an additional charge. Mohite was given Heavy Industries, earlier held by his Sena colleague Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, who resigned.

Among the Ministers of State, Rajiv Pratap Rudy was given independent charge of civil aviation. Of the rest, Chinmayanand was allotted home, Santosh Gangwar, labour and parliamentary affairs, Vijay Goel, youth affairs and sports, Sumitra Mahajan, petroleum and natural gas, Kailash Meghwal, social justice and empowerment, Nagmani, social justice and empowerment, Shripad Yasso Naik, road transport and highways, Sanjay Paswan, human resource development, Prehlad Patel, coal, Ashok Pradhan, communication and IT and P C Thomas was given law and justice.

Chinmayanand is a member of the VHP Margdarshak Mandal. His inclusion is obviously a message of peace from Vajpayee to the Parishad. When asked about the inclusion of Chinmayanand, the Prime Minister told mediapersons, ‘‘I have taken a step. You may draw your own conclusion.”

Contrary to the initial projection that the Prime Minister would focus on the allies, the changes affected the BJP the most. Secondly, Vajpayee ended up reducing the burden of only one minister, Ananth Kumar. Arun Shourie, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley retained their multiple portfolios. Rajnath Singh’s inclusion is a loud signal to the UP Rajputs that the BJP is sensitive to their aspirations, the arrest of Raja Bhaiyya being just an aberration.

Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani has managed to push up Khanduri, a Brahmin from Uttaranchal to cut into the clout of Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. Vikhe Patil, who had fallen from grace, has been replaced by Mohite, who earlier served as a personal secretary to a Maharashtra minister.

Meghwal, a Dalit from Rajasthan, is a protege of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekawat. Patel is a Lodh, elected from Balaghat (MP). There was no compensation for MDMK after the resignation of Gingee Ramachandran. Vajpayee said, ‘‘There would be one more minister in that place. But we could not get in touch with them.’’

RLD leader Ajit Singh held a meeting of his UP MLAs at his residence. A total of 13 of the 14 legislators were present.

Singh obtained resignations of all five RLD ministers and declared that he would shortly decide whether to continue his support to the Mayawati Government. He is likely to pull out of the coalition.