Super suspense is over: The complete list of portfolios of Modi Cabinet

By IndianMandarins 31 May 2019

Breaking the super-suspense portfolios for the new Modi Cabinet were, on Friday, announced with Amit Shah getting the Home Ministry, Rajnath Singh Defence Minister and Nirmala Sitharaman Finance Ministry. PM Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy and all important policy issues and portfolios not yet allocated.

 

The complete list of portfolio allocation is as follows:

Cabinet Ministers:

Raj Nath Singh- Defence

Amit Shah- Home Affairs

Nitin Jairam Gadkari- Road Transport & Highways and MSME

D V Sadananda Gowda- Chemicals and Fertilizers

Nirmala Sitharaman- Finance and Corporate Affairs

Ramvilas Paswan- Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Narendra Singh Tomar- Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; Rural Development; and Panchayati Raj

Ravi Shankar Prasad- Law and Justice; Communications; and Electronics and Information Technology

Harsimrat Kaur Badal- Food Processing Industries

Thaawar Chand Gehlot- Social Justice and Empowerment

Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar- External Affairs

Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’- Human Resource Development.

Arjun Munda-  Tribal Affairs

Smriti Zubin Irani- Women & Child Development and Textiles

Dr Harsh Vardhan- Health and Family Welfare; Science & Tech and Earth Sciences

Prakash Javadekar- Environment, Forest & Climate Change and I&B

Piyush Goyal- Railways and Commerce & Industry

Dharmendra Pradhan- Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi- Minority Affairs

Pralhad Joshi-   Parliamentary Affairs; Coal and Mines

Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey- Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Arvind Ganpat Sawant- Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise

Giriraj Singh- Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat- Jal Shakti

 

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

Santosh Kumar Gangwar- MoS (IC) for Labour and Employment

Rao Inderjit Singh- MoS (IC) for Statistics and Programme Implementation and Planning

Shripad Yesso Naik- MoS (IC) for AYUSH and MoS for Defence

Dr Jitendra Singh- MoS (IC) for Development of North Eastern Region and MoS PMO, MoS for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; MoS for Atomic Energy and MoS for Space

Kiren Rijiju- MoS (IC) for Youth Affairs and Sports and MoS for Minority Affairs

Prahalad Singh Patel- MoS (IC) for Culture and Tourism

Raj Kumar Singh- MoS (IC) for Power; MoS (IC) for New and Renewable Energy and MoS for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Hardeep Singh Puri-    MoS (IC) for Housing and Urban Affairs; MoS (IC) for Civil Aviation and MoS for Commerce and Industry

Mansukh L. Mandaviya- MoS (IC) for Shipping and MoS for Chemicals and Fertilizers

 

Ministers of State:

Faggansingh Kulaste- MoS for Steel

Ashwini Kumar Choubey-     MoS for Health and Family Welfare

Arjun Ram Meghwal- MoS for Parliamentary Affairs; Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

General (Retd.) V. K. Singh- MoS for Road Transport and Highways

Krishan Pal- MoS for Social Justice and Empowerment

Danve Raosaheb Dadarao- MoS for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

G Kishan Reddy- MoS for Home Affairs

Parshottam Rupala- MoS for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Ramdas Athawale- MoS for of Social Justice and Empowerment

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti- MoS for Rural Development

Babul Supriyo- MoS for Environment, Forest & Climate Change

Sanjeev Kumar Balyan- Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries

Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao- MoS for HRD; Communications and Electronics & IT

Anurag Singh Thakur- MoS for Finance and Corporate Affairs

Angadi Suresh Channabasappa- MoS for Railways

Nityanand Rai- MoS for Home Affairs

Rattan Lal Kataria- MoS for Jal Shakti and Social Justice and Empowerment

V. Muraleedharan- MoS for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs

Renuka Singh Saruta- MoS Tribal Affairs

Som Parkash- MoS for Commerce and Industry

Rameswar Teli- MoS for Food Processing Industries

Pratap Chandra Sarangi- MoS for MSME and Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries

Kailash Choudhary- MoS for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Debasree Chaudhuri- MoS for Women and Child Development

Modi 2.0 Cabinet: Reading between the lines

By IndianMandarins 31 May 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a history of sorts with his swearing in on Thursday, May 30, evening in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. He has been sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind for another five year term and this is the second time that Modi took oath of office and secrecy as Prime Minister. Thus, he has become third Prime Minister in independent India after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to return to the top office for a second consecutive term with full majority in Parliament.

He has emerged as a virtual Man of the Series in over a month long countrywide electoral contest. Amit Shah has turned out to be like a Man of the Match with his induction in the Cabinet today. Shah is the biggest gainer. Yet, he genuinely deserved it because of the leading role played by him in taking the BJP to the highest ever tally, or 303 seats, in the Lok Sabha.

As per the Constitution, the total number of Union ministers, including PM, shall not exceed 15 per cent of the number of members in the LS. PM Modi can have as many as 80 ministers in the 543-member Lok Sabha. With current appointments, the total number of Union ministers in 17th Lok Sabha is 57.

With average age below 60; 24 new faces are in team, 37 ministers are out. Further, 'Team Modi' has 19 first-time ministers including Shah and Jaishankar. Former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and Amit Shah have become another star entrant to the Team Modi with today’s swearing in.

Unlike these two surprise entries to the new Cabinet the list of those left out despite being Ministers in Modi’s last team is rather long. The Ministers in the previous team who receded to the world of have-beens, or former ones, from today are Sushma Swaraj, Maneka Gandhi, JP Nadda, Rajyawardhan Rathore, Radha Mohan Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Satpal Singh, Jayant Sinha, Rajiv Pratap Rudi, Mahesh Sharma,Uma Bharti, Jual Oram and Ram Kripal Yadav.

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Among the outgoing lot eight time MP Maneka Gandhi is likely to be made the pro tem Speaker to conduct the initial business of the Lower House.

Former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley could not make to the Cabinet this time and excused himself from continuing because of his serious illness.

And those who missed the bus today despite speculations in the media about their likely induction in the new team of Ministers are Aprajita Sarangi (Retd IAS) from Odisha and famed lawyer and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi. Unlike these two who could not make to the new Ministry two others whom media thought could be dropped from Team Modi made it to the Council of Ministers again. They are Dharmendra Pradhan and Hardip Singh Puri.

As for the allies or parties in the NDA apart from the BJP the Lok Janashakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister. Unilke LJP no one was included from Janata Dal (United) and Apna Dal. In the case of the last of them Anupriya Patel was a Minister of State in the last team.

Among the main highlights of this evening’s event at Rashtrapati Bhavan are:

Rajnath Singh retains seniority in terms of sequence but Nitin Gadkari appears to have lost his position (no. 4 in the order of today’s swearing in) as Amit Shah came in on the third position after Modi and Rajnath.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan did not attend the swearing-in ceremony and were conspicuous by their absence.

Here is the complete list of new ministers:

Cabinet Ministers- 24

1. Rajnath Singh
2. Amit Shah
3. Nitin Gadkari
4. DV Sadananda Gowda
5. Nirmala Sitharaman
6. Ram Vilas Paswan
7. Narendra Singh Tomar
8. Ravi Shankar Prasad
9. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
10. Thawarchand Gehlot
11. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
12. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
13. Arjun Munda
14. Smriti Irani
15. Dr Harsh Vardhan
16. Prakash Javdekar
17. Piyush Goyal
18. Dharmendra Pradhan
19. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
20. Prahlad Joshi
21. Mahendra Nath Pandey
22. Arvind Sawant
23. Giriraj Singh
24. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)- 09

1. Santosh Kumar Gangwar
2. Rao Inderjit Singh
3. Shripad Yesso Naik
4. Dr. Jitendra Singh
5. Kiren Rijiju
6. Prahalad Singh Patel
7. Raj Kumar Singh
8. Hardeep Singh Puri
9. Mansukh L. Mandaviya

Ministers of State- 24

1. Faggansingh Kulaste
2. Ashwini Kumar Choubey
3. Arjun Ram Meghwal
4. General (Retd.) V.K. Singh
5. Krisha Pal
6. Danv Raosahe Dadarao
7. G. Kishan Reddy
8. Parshottam Rupala
9. Ramdas Athawale
10. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
11. Babul Supriyo
12. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
13. Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao
14. Anurag Singh Thakur
15. Angadi Suresh Channabasappa
16. Nityanand Rai
17. RattanLalKataria
18. V. Muraleedharan
19. Renuka Singh Saruta
20. Som Parkash
21. Rameswar Teli
22. Pratap Chandra Sarangi
23. Kailash Choudhary
24. Debasree Chaudhuri

PM surprises again with some of the names in council of ministers

By IndianMandarins 30 May 2019

The Modi 2.0 government has sworn in with some surprising names like former foreign secretary S Jaishankar and Pratap Sarangi making it a mix of professional and people from organizations. The total number of ministers in the Union council of ministers including the Prime Minister is 58.

Inclusion of Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nisank’, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Giriraj Singh is equally surprising at least in the cabinet but the PM doesn’t do anything without purpose as political analyst say. Now, the portfolio allocation is once again going to surprise people.

There are 24 cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state with independent charge and equal number of minister of states. Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan has been lucky as he has not only won his seat with slender margin but got the ministerial berth in the bargain who was dropped last time in the mid-term of the government. Karnataka BJP chief Prahlad Joshi has been rewarded for the phenomenal success of the party in the state.

The name of Prahlad Patel has been doing rounds for ministerial berth right from the time of the previous tenure. Despite being the senior most member in the Lok Sabha, Santosh Gangwar has to remain contended with the minister of state portfolio. West Bengal is not properly represented with just two ministers in the council of minister and it seems one more inclusion in the reshuffle.

There are 19 first-time ministers in the 58-member council of ministers. First timers included Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Prahlad Joshi and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank to name a few. Jaishankar is one of India’s leading strategic analysts, who was a key member of the Indian team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal. Arjun Munda also took oath as a Union minister for the first time. Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena who beat Congress’s Mumbai chief Milind Deora also got his first ministerial berth in the Cabinet.

Two four-time MPs from Karnataka Suresh Angadi and Pralhad Joshi also made it to the council of ministers. Prahalad Joshi could not make to the previous cabinet of Modi as two other Brahmin leaders from Karnataka Ananth Kumar and Anantkumar Hegde made the cut.

Rattan Lal Kataria who defeated Kumari Selja was also sworn in as a minister. G Kishan Reddy BJP MP from Secunderabad in Telangana is also a first time minister.

Kailash Chowdhary a farmer leader who defeated influential Congress leader Manvendra Singh in Rajasthan’s Barmer and Pratap Chandra Sarangi, BJP MP from Balasore in Odisha were also sworn in as ministers. Deboshree Chaudhary who won from Raiganj Bengal in the BJP’s stunning show in the state was also sworn in as a minister.

Anurag Thakur, BJP MP from Hamirpur and son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal also made the cut for a ministerial berth for the first time. Nityanand Rai, BJP’s Bihar chief is also a first time minister and so is Ratanlal Kataria, BJP leader from Haryana. BJP’s Kerala unit chief V Muraleedharan also joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new ministry for his first assignment as a central minister.

There is a long list of who misses the Modi bandwagon 2.0

By IndianMandarins 29 May 2019

The Modi 2.0 government will swear in on May 30, 2019. But there is much ado about the fact that who would join the ministry under Narendra Modi and who would not. Prime Minister designate Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah discussed the issue on May 28 in great detail and it is learnt that there are many names that would be dropped.

 

However, the Prime Minister-designate had warned during his address to the NDA leaders not to play Modi as they are bound to go wrong. Still there are certain names that are being speculated to be dropped. Actually this is the time when action can be taken on non-performers and any minister who was even slightly short of performance.

 

It is learnt that sword is hanging over one of the most prominent name in the cabinet Dharmendra Pradhan for his alleged role in the defeat of Jay Panda and Sambit Patra. Delhi BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan Vijay Goel is also likely to be dropped with former Karnataka CM Sadananda Gouda and another Karnataka leader Anant Kumar Hegde for his controversial statements.

 

Leaders like K J Alphonse, Sudarshan Bhagat, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, P P Choudhary, Krishna Raj, Bandaru Dattatreya, Subhash Bhamre, Hardeep Singh Puri and Jayant Sinha are some prominent names who are likely to be axed for multiple reasons. But amid all these names, there are certain names like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and J P Nadda who have either opted themselves out or would be given some other responsibility instead of a ministerial berth.

 

There is a long list of non-performing ministers of state, so a fairly good number of them will be replaced who were hiding behind their cabinet ministers. There is another possibility of swapping of ministerial berth in the case of another Gandhi scion Varun Gandhi as Maneka Gandhi might opt out for Varun Gandhi. Manoj Sinha has lost elections but it is still being said that he might be given a ministry but it is simply a rumor. If at all he has to be accommodated, it would be done whenever reshuffle takes place.

 

Modi 2.0: The decisive factors in portfolio allocation?

By IndianMandarins 28 May 2019

Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi took a dig that there are lots of Modi involved in distributing portfolios to the new government. Speculation is rife with this assumption that composition of Modi’s new cabinet would have Assembly elections of Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi and West Bengal in mind besides development and core issues of the BJP.

 It will have development strategy, aspiration of youths, farm distress, rural development, infrastructure and energy at the core. It is being said that from the top four ministries home ministry might either go to Amit Shah or will remain with Rajnath Singh. Name of Shah is also doing round for finance ministry as the PM is not in favour of giving finance to Piyush Goyal.

In case Amit Shah joins Union cabinet, J P Nadda is tipped to be made party president. Bhupendra Yadav is another name for the same. In that tricky situation heavy weights like Rajnath Singh would be given equally important portfolio like HRD, Road Transport or Highways. Rajnath Singh is also being considered for the responsibility of Lok Sabha Speaker.

Keeping opposition’s agenda against defence deals in mind, the portfolio may be either kept with Nirmala Sitharaman or may be given to a leader with a stature. Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to get either external affairs ministry or HRD ministry if Sushma Swaraj refuses to take ministerial responsibility. Some new names like former IAS officer Aprajita Sarangi, young leader from Karnataka Tejashwi Surya and a few from West Bengal and Odisha might be inducted in the Modi government. Vijay Goel may be dropped and Manoj Tewari or Meenakshi Lekhi may be inducted. 

Dharmendra Pradhan is unlikely to get petroleum ministry again as PM is apparently not happy with his performance in Odisha Assembly elections. Kiren Rijiju or Piyush Goyal may replace Pradhan. Defeats of Sambit Patra and Jai Panda with very low margin are being attributed to Pradhan’s tactics.

Nitin Gadkari may be given another infra portfolio except Road Transport and Highways. He may be drafted into Railways or Shipping or both if he is not entrusted with the responsibility of defence.

Having defeated Rahul Gandhi in Gandhi bastion Amethi, Smriti Irani has proved to be a fighter and likely to be rewarded a good portfolio. Though she had best portfolio last time but she will get a better one. She might be considered for important portfolios like HRD, Health or even for Commerce.  Media in-charge of the BJP Anil Baluni is likely to get either information and broadcasting ministry or shifted to Uttarakhand as CM and Trivendra Singh Rawat will be brought to Delhi. Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore to retain I&B if Baluni is not brought in.

Why did the clichéd strategy of caste combination fail to work for SP-BSP

By IndianMandarins 28 May 2019

Despite forging an alliance with the bitterest rival the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) failed to make any mark in Uttar Pradesh politics in just concluded Lok Sabha elections. The SP managed to get as much seats as it got in 2014 while its alliance partner the BSP got benefited with 10 seats at its cost. The Congress failed to save its Amethi pocket borrow even with the support of the SP and the BSP.

Two experiment of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav failed to take off despite reservations of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh against these alliances. Mulayam Singh being a seasoned politician was well aware of the ground reality so he expressed he wished Modi to become the PM again surprising everyone.

Actually by aligning with the BSP, the SP had even lost its core Yadav vote bank but somehow has been able to rally behind Muslim vote bank in its favour. Muslims voted tactically to Muslim candidates whichever party they belonged to. So this time round out of five elected SP candidates three are Muslims and their winning margin is more than Mulayam Singh. Akhilesh Yadav is the only saving grace for the party who had won with a margin of 2.5 lakh votes.

This clearly suggests that instead of voting to the BSP, Yadav voters have voted to the BJP not only in UP but in some other states as well. A section of Dalit votes too have gone to the BJP. Actually Young Yadav votes tilted towards the BJP due to this alliance and older generation got divided between the family and a section voted to Shivpal Singh Yadav. Has this not been the case, Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav would not have been defeated.

There are three Muslims out of 10 elected BSP candidates. So the alliance has got six seats out of 15 that it had won in 2019 but it failed miserably to pose a challenge to unseat Prime Minister Modi for which the alliance was firmed up. With two successive defeats of the alliance forged by Akhilesh, some new strategy needs to be devised as clichéd strategy of caste combination does not seem to be working.

Lone crusader Rahul fails as satraps fail to add him

By IndianMandarins 26 May 2019

Nothing could be a better offer than this that a non-Gandhi should be made president of the Congress by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress has failed to put up any great challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party but efforts made by Congress President cannot be in anyway undermined. And there is no doubt about the fact that Congress needs some drastic measure if it has to emerge from ashes like phoenix.

Rahul Gandhi has not only initiated the process by offering to resigning but also making it clear in no uncertain terms that leaders like Kamal Nath, Ashok Gehlot and P Chidambaram preferred their sons over the party. There are many more who have their other preferences. But the most noteworthy thing is that Rahul has done a very courageous thing to say it before CWC.

Moreover, this is a misnomer that he has an absolute power over the party rather his name is taken for ride by these leaders for their personal gains. He also expressed his displeasure over the fact that narrative built around by him on Rafale Deal was not properly supported by the Congress leadership.

People in the Congress say that he appeared like a lone crusader but all regional satraps did not add to his efforts rather harmed by their irresponsible statements. Rahul seems to have reached to the roots of the problem and his intentions are unquestionable so if he is able to deal with them or a group within the Congress foils his thoughts to become a reality is a long way to go as they are not dealt in one day.

Moreover, it seems that the reported statement made by UPA chairperson that Rahul needs to be given more power and faith is right. The Congress has succeed in increasing its seats but it must be understood that the lead taken by the Congress in a few states barely a few months ago like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh would not have been hold on to by regional satraps.

So blaming Rahul Gandhi for everything in not only unjustified but unfortunate and giving clean chit to those who are at the saddle by the herculean efforts of Rahul must also be introspect on.

Eyes of the global leaders on a soon to be $5 trillion economy!

By IndianMandarins 25 May 2019

Victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not only impact domestic but global scenario as well where he has carved his niche for himself as a strong leader. This is reflected from the fact that not only Indians are rejoicing the victory of Modi but congratulatory messages are pouring in from abroad. The world order is changing.

Actually global leaders are looking at India as a future $5 trillion economy and one of the biggest markets of the world. Some of the leaders are looking at Modi as a strong hand to fight global terrorism of which India is the worst sufferer. So right from President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena to King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to the US president Donald Trump to former Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda to Vladimir Putin. Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu too called up Modi to congratulate him for his astounding victory.

It is likely that PM would start his new inning by visiting a south Asian country like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or Maldives. Modi expressed his readiness to work even more closely for the benefit of the people of Sri Lanka and the region with the Lankan president

President Trump congratulated Modi for his victory and the two leaders agreed to meet at the forthcoming G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan to discuss bilateral relations and global matters. They also agreed to work together for further enhancing the close and strategic partnership between the two countries.

Modi received congratulatory calls world leaders including Prime Minister of Bangladesh, King of Bhutan, Prime Minister of Bhutan, Prime Minister of Nepal, President of Maldives, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka; President of Russia, President of France;  Prime Minister of Japan; Prime Minister of Australia; Prime Minister of Mauritius, Crown Prince of UAE and Prime Minister of Israel besides many others.

Expressing his gratitude for their good wishes, the PM thanked the global leaders for their cooperation in developing mutually beneficial bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation, and expressed his desire to continue to work further with them in fostering even stronger ties.