In the first cabinet expansion exercise after assuming power, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted 21 ministers into his council on Sunday in a move that strikes regional balance at the Centre and is expected to bring technocratic expertise into the government.
The much-awaited expansion is also expected to give a big push to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh – with an eye on elections – and rewarded Maharashtra and Haryana for delivering decisive victories for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent assembly polls.
Portfolios of the ministers who took the oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday, however, were not announced till the filing of the report.
The newly sworn in cabinet ministers are: former Goa chief minister Manohar Parikkar, who is tipped to get the defence ministry; BJP vice-president JP Nadda, a leader from Himachal Pradesh who has long experience in organisational politics; and Birendra Singh, who had joined the BJP from the Congress ahead of the Haryana assembly elections.
The fourth in the list is Shiv Sena’s Suresh Prabhu. There were reports that the Sena was not keen on his candidature. But Prabhu is known to enjoy Modi’s confidence.
Even though Sena’s pick, Anil Desai, decided to skip the event - apparently over differences with the BJP in ministerial berth allocation in Maharashtra, that did not hurt Prabhu’s prospects. Some reports said he joined the BJP hours before the ceremony.
Prabhu has the reputation of being an efficient minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He has also worked closely with Modi during the Lok Sabha election campaign, and is the PM’s Sherpa for the upcoming G20- summit in Australia.
There were reports in Maharashtra political circles that Modi wanted him at the Centre despite the logjam in ties between the two former allies – the Sena and the BJP – ahead of last month’s assembly.
