Reshuffle alters equations in BJP leadership

The Cabinet reshuffle has yielded two unexpected spinoffs - it has altered equations in the second rung of the BJP's leadership and has put ministers under pressure to pursue economic reform in their ministries.

Ministers hitherto diffident about economic liberalisation and inclined to turn to the RSS have been virtually sidelined.

Petroleum Minister Ram Naik was one of the few ministers who was not shifted from his portfolio despite his declared opposition to disinvestment in his ministry.

On the other hand nearly 80 per cent of the ministers of state have been shifted around, and those pursuing reform most aggressively have been rewarded.

Ravishankar Prasad who got independent charge of I&B after holding the coal and law ministries as minister of state is one example.

He argued vociferously in parliamentary debates for internal liberalisation while maintaining a diplomatic silence on the effects of globalisation.

With the exception of Minister of State for Home ID Swami, Minister of State for Communication Sumitra Mahajan and Minister of State for Power, Jayawantiben Mehta, all the other ministers have been shifted around.

"This is the signal that the PM wants a performing team, and that this is an election team" a minister said.

However, equally interesting is the change in equations among the top four leaders in the second rung of the BJP - Sushma Swaraj, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitely. New tactical alliances have been forged in the run-up to the Cabinet reshuffle and after.

It is the world's worst-kept secret, for example, that Swaraj and Mahajan frequently clashed, both on policy issues, as well as over political opportunity.

A cabinet meeting on Conditional Access some months ago saw such a fusillade of words between the two that the PM was constrained to observe mildly: "kya kisi teesre kee bhi koi rai hai kya" (Does anyone else have a view on this?).

However, all that was forgotten during this reshuffle. During discussions on 26 and 27 January, when it was clear that Mahajan was going to be moved and that the portfolio was falling vacant, Swaraj was offered the job as a swop.

However, she is reported to conveyed to party president Venkiah Naidu that she did not want to turn a cabinet portfolio into a power struggle with her 'friend and colleague" Pramod Mahajan, and gave that up to settle for considerably humbler Health and Family Welfare.

Mahajan also said 'no' to an offer of information and broadcasting too, though for other reasons.

With this new entente and decisive promotions for Arun Jaitely and Arun Shourie, rivalry among the younger leaders of the BJP is going to take an interesting turn.

Arun Jaitely has the obvious advantage of proximity to both Vajpayee and Advani, but his ministerial preoccupations will be leveraged by Mahajan to take crucial campaign and ticket-distribution decisions in the forthcoming elections, one of the ways of building up a sway in the party.

Arun Shourie, apparently disinterested in constituency-building within the party might find it necessary to conquer his distaste of power politics. Internal BJP politics will become much more interesting as elections come closer.