by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Special report
Finding a new defence minister a herculean task
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, May 3 :
Finding a new Defence Minister is getting extremely tough for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Though pressure is mounting from the Opposition parties that Modi find a full-time Defence Minister considering continued threat from across the borders, Modi is finding it difficult to relieve Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of the additional charge.
The issue cropped up again when Jaitley called on the PM yesterday ostensibly to discuss the crisis in the Valley and mutilation of bodies of the Indian jawans by the Pakistanis.
Jaitley who was to visit Japan had to defer his visit by two days in the wake of current situation. It is learnt that he pleaded with Modi to relieve him of the additional charge as early as possible. However, Modi is reported to have said that it will take a while to find a suitable person for the key Cabinet post. Modi doesn’t want to reshuffle his Cabinet in a hurry and under pressure.
The reasons for not appointing a full-time Defence Minister after Manohar Parrikar’s sudden departure to Goa are many. Sources say that the matter was discussed at the high-powered core committee meeting of the party comprising of PM, BJP chief Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and M Venkiah Naidu.
Modi reportedly said the situation is back to square one as it existed in May 2014 when Arun Jaitley had to be given the dual charge of the defence ministry in May 2014.
He had a great difficulty in persuading Manohar Parrikar to come to Delhi and hold the charge of Defence Ministry. But he had to go back in less than two years. He asked the core group members to suggest a name for the post as none of the senior Chief Ministers of the BJP ruled states can be moved out as Assembly elections are likely to be held within the next 12-18 months in their states.
Though one of the proposals under the consideration was to move Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to Defence and give additional charge of the Railways to the Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. But it was felt that no purpose will be served by replacing dual charge of one minister with the other.
Secondly, Modi is keen to undertake a major reshuffle of his Cabinet. He wants to do it after the President and Vice President’s elections in July-August.
Modi is also keen to find new faces in states who can be brought to the Centre. Amit Shah is already on tour of states for next 90 days and tirelessly campaigning.
The PM had told a group of MPs from Maharashtra the other day that 30 ministers of his government have no work after 2 pm. He had also said that good governance is minimum government which virtually signaled that he may trim his ministry.
Therefore, finding a new Defence Minister is turning out to be a herculean task.
