Shushma returns to I & B, Naidu gets rural development

He justified the expansions, saying that vacancies would have to be filled up as and when they arise. Asked about the big size of his ministry, Vajpayee said: “This is not the largest-ever ministry. There have been bigger ministries in the past. Before this government, there was never such a big coalition.”

Asked about his assessment of the performance of his government, which completes its first year in office next month, he observed: “We have some achievements to our credit. But a lot more needs to be done. It is for the people to judge.”

The expansion expectedly saw the political rehabilitation of Sushma Swaraj. She has been handed back the Information and Broadcasting portfolio, which she had given up and resigned over two years back to take over as Chief Minister of Delhi on the eve of the assembly elections.

BJP general secretary Venkaiah Naidu makes his debut in the Union Cabinet as Minister for Rural Development, a post which was held so far by Sunder Lal Patwa.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, who is recovering from a chest ailment, has been shifted to the Ministry for Chemicals and Fertilizers which fell vacant after Suresh Prabhu (Shiv Sena) was elevated to the Ministry for Power.

The move is likely to mollify Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, who had openly complained about the relatively unimportant portfolios given to his partymen.

The Prime Minister simultaneously inducted four new ministers of state. These include Shripad Naik (agriculture), Satyabrata Mukherjee (chemicals and fertilizer), U V Krishnamraju (external affairs) and Pon Radhakrishnan (sports and youth affairs).

Minister of State for Finance V Dhananjaya Kumar probably had to pay the price for his controversial statements on the income-tax department’s raids on some cricketers and their associates in the match-fixing case. He has been shifted to the relatively unimportant textiles ministry. His place has been taken by Gingee N Ramachandran of the MDMK.

Rita Verma, who had a running feud with her senior, Dr C P Thakur, in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, swaps places with Minister of State for Rural Development A Raja.

Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, who has just returned to the country after overseeing the country’s debacle in the Sydney Olympics, has been moved to the Ministry for Human Resource Development.

Sushma Swaraj will be assisted in the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting by Ramesh Bais.