Gujral retains all but one of Deve Gowda's ministers

Inder Kumar Gujral was sworn-in as India's 12th prime minister at 1000 hours IST on Monday.

The prime minister retained all the ministers from the Deve Gowda council of ministers, barring Devendra Prasad Yadav, the food and civil supplies minister from the Janata Dal, and the four Tamil Maanila Congress ministers -- Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, Labour Minister M Arunachalam, Ministers of State Dhanushkodi Adithan and S R Balasubramaniam The TMC, like the Congress, has decided to support the United Front government from outside. Maqbool Dar could not be sworn in as he is away on haj.

Prime Minister Gujral took the oath in English and shook hands with Congress leader Sitaram Kesri and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi before taking his place alongside his ministers. Kesri and outgoing premier H D Deve Gowda were seated a few places away from each other, but the "old man in a hurry" and the "nikamma," presumably still smarting from each other's jabs, resolutely ignored each other.

All the former prime ministers -- barring V P Singh who is in hospital -- attended the ceremony at the Ashoka Hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan. TMC president G K Moopanar was also present and was one of the regional chieftains -- the AGP's Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, the DMK's Karunanidhi, the Telugu Desam's N Chandrababu Naidu were the others -- seated in the front row.

Also seated in the front row next to Vimla Sharma, the First Lady, and Usha Narayanan, the vice-president's wife, were Sonia Gandhi, Sheila Gujral, the prime minister's wife, and Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. Other members of the prime minister's family, including his celebrated brother, the painter-sculptor Satish Gujral, were seated in the second row, behind the prime ministerial phalanx.

The mood at the ceremony, as befitting one at the Presidential palace, was one of solemnity -- and perhaps of relief that the three-week-old crisis was finally over. The only note of jest was provided by the unlikely combination of Indrajit Gupta and Chaturnan Mishra, the seventy-year-olds from the Communist Party of India. Soon after Mishra was sworn in as Cabinet minister, Gupta, who was next in line, borrowed his comrade's glasses (or was it his in the first place?) to read the oath of office. Even the Rashtrapati giggled.

Front sources said Devendra Yadav, food and supplies minister in the Deve Gowda ministry, was dropped at Laloo Yadav's instance. He is the only member of the previous government who does not find a place in Gujral's side.

The Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu chief ministers, besides the prime minister, were busy till 0400 hours on Monday morning to finalise the contours of the ministry. In the end, it was decided to retain Deve Gowda's ministers along with their portfolios.

UF spokesman S Jaipal Reddy said the ministers's portfolios were not changed to give a ''signal of continuity'' of the new government.

Gujral, who has retained external affairs for himself, will for the time being also look after the TMC ministers and Yadav's portfolios.

The prime minister told reporters that he will expand his cabinet soon. Front sources said the expansion of the ministry will take place around May 10.

Gujral said all efforts would be made to persuade the TMC to join the government. ''I will make every effort to persuade them to join the government,'' the prime minister said, with enough determination to make Moopanar's resolve crumble.

The prime minister said he would also restore the sexual balance in his team. His current ministerial side has only just woman minister -- Bihar's Kanti Singh. When a newsman asked about the fate of the bill for reservation of women in Parliament and legislatures, the prime minister said ''I was the first one who favoured women's reservation.''

He said he was confident that his government would last long. "Why should there be any apprehension?'' he asked the journalists.

His confidence found backing from Kesri who assured his party's full support to the Gujral government. ''I am very much satisfied with the new government," the man, who pulled down the last one in power, said.

Kesri was annoyed when one reporter asked him if his party had extended unconditional support to the Gujral government. ''Only an illiterate can say this,'' he said, avoiding a direct response.

Laloo Yadav, who was rumoured to be planning to ditch the Janata Dal and hitch his wagon to Kesri during the penultimate phase of the Deve Gowda government, added his ritual quip. "Kesriji has promised full co-operation to the new government. I am confident and hopeful that he will not derail the new government. Mr Kesri is a grand old man of Indian politics. He is a superman and we respect him.''

Three concluding observations: Atal Bihari Vajpayee was seated next to Kesri; P V Narasimha Rao, who looked as if he slept through the ceremony, suddenly sprung up at the end when everyone else was sitting; and Ram Vilas hugged Chidambaram for several moments as the rest of the audience hurried home or to Parliament. Though they are believed to have had several unpleasant encounters over the railway minister's financial generosity, Paswan looked like he was going to miss Chidambaram in the Cabinet a great deal. Just like most of us.