PM's new-look team: Bracing for UP polls?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen the right moment to carry out the first major expansion of his council of ministers. The government has already completed 40 per cent of its elected term, and not too much seems to have happened on the ground. Perceptions of the government won’t set the Ganga on fire. The expansion suggests that the PM is looking to bolster the implementation department. This is why as many as 19 ministers of state have been inducted and no minister at the Cabinet level. This means better quality work has to be pushed for within the framework of policies that have been announced.

In most cases the new ministers are expected to be attached to the heavy-duty ministries to go out and step up the pace of work, or at least step up the perception that work is being done. Only Prakash Javadekar, the MoS for environment, has been promoted to Cabinet rank. Clearly the PM trusts and backs him. Key elections are coming up early next year, Uttar Pradesh being the most important. It is, therefore, maintenance and repair time. Into the field of battle are being sent out the political counterparts of Army majors and lieutenant-colonels.

About 70 per cent of the ministers inducted on Tuesday are over 60 years of age. Several of them have served as ministers in their respective states. Two were, in fact, ministers in the Gujarat government when the PM was the state chief minister. Many of the newcomers in the council of ministers have been MPs for several terms. Clearly there appears to be no shortage of experience among the new appointees about the situation on the ground. With preparations afoot for important state elections, politics has been factored in.

A number of dalit and OBC MPs have been brought into the council of ministers, possibly in the expectation that this will help the BJP make inroads into BSP leader Mayawati’s caste base in UP. Two Gujarat ministers are from the OBC Patel community, presumably to act as counterpoise to the Hardik Patel-led agitation for this prosperous community of Gujarat to be brought into the ambit for job and education quotas.

BJP president Amit Shah held consultations with the RSS brass before drawing up the list of 19. It is the RSS cadres who will do the heavy lifting at election time. Besides, the BJP is the political front organisation of the RSS. So, there are no surprises there. Those from outside the RSS fold are being rewarded for their loyalty to the PM and the saffron fold. The Union Budget presented for the current year indicates a degree of emphasis on agriculture, at least at the level of externalities and framing of schemes although this is not backed up with adequate funding.