The contrasting fortunes of Irani and Javadekar were not only the highlights of the new list of portfolios. Law Minister Sadananda Gowda lost his portfolio for the second time— he held railways earlier—and has been given statistics and programme implementation. Senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad lost telecommunication though he is the new law minister.

The range of changes indicated that Modi and BJP Chief Amit Shah used a mix of performance assessment and political utility as yardsticks to shift ministers and alter their responsibilities. Some ministers seem to have been moved for not being able to tackle “wicked problems” on their turfs, others have been found wanting in articulation.

Apart from Javadekar, the other big surprise gainer was minister of state Manoj Sinha, now holding independent charge of telecommunication besides being MOS railways. Journalist M J Akbar is an MOS in external affairs where his understanding of developments in West Asia, his articulation of issues is expected to be an asset. Among other change at the MOS level, Jayant Sinha has been moved to civil aviation from finance.

The parliamentary affairs portfolio has gone to Karnataka leader Ananth Kumar who also holds the charge of chemicals and fertilizers. This change is significant as it was felt that coordination and networking with opposition will be crucial as NDA pushes legislation like GST. Kumar will work with the experienced parliamentary warhorse S S Ahuwalia as MOS. Venkaiah Naidu lost parliamentary affairs but got information and broadcasting and so, on balance, retained his ranking.

For Arun Jaitely finance is a heavy portfolio and needs more attention. So he has rightly been divested of Information and Broadcasting. An amiable natured Naidu gets along with the press very well and expected to emerge as a good I&B minister.

The expectation that Smriti Irani may be sent to Uttar Pradesh to be the BJP’s face in next year’s assembly election and may be projected as chief ministerial candidate proved to be wide off the mark. She has no political roots except she contested 2014 elections from Amethi and obviously lost by a big margin as she was no match to Rahul Gandhi.

Narendra Modi’s “performance-driven shake-up” had many take always, including emergence of a well-established centralized power structure within the party and the government represented by him (PM) and Amit Shah. The selection and reshuffle also had several messages for his ministers—not just for Irani but also top guns like Agriculture Minister Radhamohan Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, new I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu and new Steel Minister Birendra Singh.

The process conducted with utmost secrecy and completely contrary to the ongoing speculation, symbolized the well-established centralized power structure represented by Modi and Shah. It was believed to be in consonance with the RSS, thus indicating a comfortable relationship between them and the BJP mentor.

Apparently, top ministers, including Jaitley, were left completely out of the loop. Proof is the fact that those with whom he had uneasy relationship—for instance S S Ahuwalia and Vijay Goel—were brought in.

In the shake-up, “performers” either retained their ministries or were given better or additional assignments ( for instance Piyush Goyal and Ananth Kumar). Others have either been shunted out or given less important assignments. While Irani was seen as the “biggest loser”, changes the exercise brought in the life of two top ministers—Jaitely and Radha Mohan—were overshadowed by the “big story” of her “downfall” and Javadekar’s “rise”.

It goes without saying that the Finance Ministry is an important portfolio and needs a full-time minister rather than someone who was shuttling it with an important portfolio like I&B. But the exit of Jayant Sinha as MOS and arrival of new faces at the level of Ministrer of State—Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Arjun Ram Meghwal—give clear message that the ministry needs better focus. (IPA Service)