Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 7: Several big heads rolled to create more vacancies in the union ministries as the prime minister Narendra Modi undertook an expansion to give a new look to his erstwhile 53-member cabinet by inducting 43 new ministers on Wednesday, the first reshuffle since he began his second innings in May, 2019.
Proving correct the initial speculations of the political pundits correct that the reshuffle could mean a “major shakeup” in the government as the prime minister looks to make it more representative with on political and governance challenges particularly keeping in view the elections to five states early next year including the most populous state like Uttar Pradesh.
Modi was also keen to give more representations to the young members, women and the members from the backward classes. More than 55 per cent of the ministerial berths have gone to the members belonging to the backward classes while the young members also received adequate representation in the union cabinet.
Among the big heads to roll on the eve of the swearing-in of the new ministers by the president Ram Nath Kovind in a simple ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday evening were the health minister Harsh Vardhan and his minister state Ashwini Chaubey, the union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the information minister Prakash Javadekar, the labour minister Santosh Gangwar, the education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank,” union chemicals and fertilisers minister D V Sadanand Gowda and others.
Among others asked to vacate their cabinet berths included minister of state for environment and forest Baul Supriyo,
Debasree Chaudhuri (MoS Women and Child Development),
Rattan Lal Kataria (MoS Jal Shakti and Social Justice & Empowerment), Sanjay Dhotre (MoS State for Education), Pratap Chandra Sarangi (MoS Animal Husbandry) and Raosaheb Patil (MoS Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution). The union social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot had resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday on his appointment as the governor of Karnataka.
The 43 new leaders sworn-in as ministers included:
- Narayan Tatu Rane; 2. Sarbananda Sonowal; 3. Dr. Virendra Kumar; 4. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia 5. Ramchandra Prasad Singh; 6. Ashwini Vaishnaw; 7. Pashu Pati Kumar Paras; 8. Kiren Rijiju 9. Raj Kumar Singh; 10. Hardeep Singh Puri; 11. Mansukh Mandaviya; 12. Bhupender Yadav; 13. Parshottam Rupala; 14. G. Kishan Reddy; 15. Anurag Singh Thakur; 16. Pankaj Choudhary; 17. Anupriya Singh Patel; 18. Dr. Satya Pal Singh Baghel; 19. Rajeev Chandrasekhar; 20. Shobha Karandlaje; 21. Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma; 22. Darshana Vikram Jardosh; 23. Meenakashi Lekhi; 24. Annpurna Devi; 25. A. Narayanaswamy; 26. Kaushal Kishore; 27. Ajay Bhatt; 28. B. L. Verma; 29. Ajay Kumar; 30. Chauhan Devusinh; 31. Bhagwanth Khuba; 32. Kapil Moreshwar Patil; 33. Pratima Bhoumik; 34. Dr. Subhas Sarkar; 35. Dr. Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad; 36. Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh; 37. Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar; 38. Bishweswar Tudu; 39. Shantanu Thakur; 40.Dr. Munjapara Mahendrabhai; 41. John Barla; 42. Dr. L. Murugan; and 43. Nisith Pramanik.
The much-awaited expansion comes close on the heels of the completion of the Modi’s government’s seven years in office. Currently, there are 21 cabinet ministers, nine ministers with independent charge, and 23 ministers of state in the union council of ministers. The constitutional provisions allow the prime minister to head a 81-member cabinet.
Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion, ministerial probables met the Prime Minister at his residence.
Those who met Modi included the BJP’s Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Sunita Duggal, Meenakshi Lekhi, Bharati Pawar, Shantanu Thakur and Kapil Patil, the JD-U’s R.CP. Singh, the LJP’s Pashupati Paras and the Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel.
Some Ministers of State, including G. Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Thakur, were also there, and they may be elevated, the sources said.
Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia whose switch to BJP led to the fall of Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh is likely to be made as a Cabinet Minister. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane, former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Bhupendra Yadav, and Uttar Pradesh BJP Vice President B L Verma are among those expected to be given cabinet berths.
Meanwhile, Chirag Paswan, left high and dry by his uncle and other party Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) MPs after embarking on his Aashirwad yatra from Hajipur on July 5, said he would go to court on his uncle and expelled party leader Pashupati Kumar Paras induction into the union Cabinet on the LJP quota.
Alipurduar MP John Barla, who is among the 43 new faces inducted as a part of the Cabinet reshuffle exercise, is a tribal leader from the tea gardens of West Bengal.
Born in Jalpaiguri in 1975, Barla had earlier been vocal about the demand for a separate Gorkhaland. The BJP leader has been in the news recently for demanding a separate Union Territory carved out of North Bengal, alleging that the region “lacked development” over the years. His induction in the union cabinet is likely to cause discomfiture to the West Bengal chief minister and Modi’s strong critic Mamata Banerjee.
