Reshuffle on cards, Didi may turn up trumps

Ananth may not admit it, but he has been told by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani that he would have to put in his papers in line with the party’s one-man-one-post norm.

Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee is yet to make up his mind on Ananth’s replacement. He is likely to discuss the issue with Advani tomorrow. Sources said the choice of Ananth’s successor is linked to the coming Assembly polls in Delhi since the Urban Development portfolio is vital to the politics of the national capital. His prospective successors include Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma and BJP parliamentary party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

Sources said Mamata has also set her sights on Urban Development. With the Railways Ministry out of the question, she is interested in either Urban Development or Rural Development. But with both the portfolios with the BJP, she may get neither.

Mamata, who missed the bus during the last reshuffle after being tipped as a sure entrant, met Advani here last week to mend fences with him. On the face of it, the exercise was aimed at inviting him to lay the foundation stone of Kolkata Gate, patterned on the India Gate, at Kolkata on July 6, but the real purpose was to cosy up to him. The Trinamool controls the Kolkata civic body. Advani agreed to participate in the function, but was informed by the West Bengal government later that the project awaited financial and environmental clearance.

He refused to lay the foundation of a project which has not been cleared. He told Mamata he did not inaugurated a police memorial at Chanakyapuri for the same reason. But when he visits Kolkata on July 6 in connection with the 102nd birth anniversary celebrations of Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Advani would participate in a programme at the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda, located in the Kolkata North-West LS constituency, represented by Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Mamata’s bete noire in the party. Bandopadhyay is scheduled to be present at the function.

Bandyopadhyay is known to enjoy Advani’s blessings for an induction in to the Cabinet during the last reshuffle. While Mamata succeeded in pre-empting his entry, she ended up losing a Cabinet slot herself too.

The BJP is somewhat wary of Mamata, given her unpredictable conduct in the past. Therefore, a section of the party is not exactly enthused to see her back in the Cabinet.

Meanwhile, two ministers are waiting in the wings for a change. Small Industries Minister C.P. Thakur is pressing for a ‘‘mainstream’’ portfolio while Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel wants an independent charge. The claims of both rest on their castes. Thakur is a Bhumihar, an important caste in Bihar, which, according to him, is under-represented. Goel is citing the absence of a Cabinet-rank minister belonging to the Vaishya community, party vote-bank, for his promotion.