New Central ministries likely
From Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 11 — In order to meet the demand of numbers created by the enlarged base of the National Democratic Alliance, (NDA), Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, may create new ministries by bifurcating existing ones and amalgamating some of these departments.

Apart from the proposal to split up the Finance Ministry, moves are afoot to have a separate Ministry for Education and Literacy (carved out of Human Resources Development Ministry), Employment (out of Labour Ministry and the Urban and Rural Ministries entrusted with employment generation), information technology (from Electronics and Communications Ministries). Some other ministries may also be created for having a faster pace of development.

A new ministry may be created by carving out the Department of Economic Affairs from Finance Ministry and combining it with Company Affairs from the Law Ministry. The charge of the existing Finance Ministry, therefore, will be confined to the presentation of the Union Budget and overseeing the Departments of Revenue and Expenditure.

It may be recalled that in his last Budget speech, the Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha (who is likely to be reappointed in his present job sans Economic Affairs Department) had talked of "downsizing the government". This exercise has remained on paper so far. Of late, Mr Sinha has been talking of "right-sizing the government". Perhaps the creation of new departments will be described as part of the "right-sizing" exercise. At present, there are 75 officers of the rank of Secretary to Government of India. Creation of new ministries may mean adding to this list.

The need for new portfolios is felt because apart from having 15 ministers from the BJP and three ministers from the largest NDA partner, Janata Dal (United), the new Council of Ministers will have to accommodate the needs of 12 other existing alliance constituents.

Unlike his predecessors, during his last tenure, Mr Vajpayee had opted for a compact team — 19 Ministers of Cabinet rank and 17 Ministers of State. The number of ministers to be sworn in this time may exceed the previous total of 36.

(Though there is no hard and fast rule about the size of a Council of Ministers, the Administrative Reforms Commission in the seventies had suggested that the total number of Ministers should not exceed 10 per cent of the strength of the Legislature — at the Centre there are 543 Lok Sabha and 225 Rajya Sabha members, thus Mr Vajpayee’s predecessors who had more than 60 ministers were not exceeding the limit. However, Mr Vajpayee prefers a compact team and he hinted about it at the Parliament House on Sunday after his election as NDA leader.)

The possibility of the strength of the NDA going up from the present 303 (including National Conference, as presented to the President today) to 310, with the inclusion of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is also being talked of. If this happens, two berths will have to be found for Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr P.A. Sangma. (Mr Sangma would prefer to be back as the Speaker of Lok Sabha, however, that position may remain with Mr G.M.C. Balayogi inspite of his party, Telugu Desam, preferring to stay away from the ministry.)

According to reliable sources, the NCP, while carrying out negotiations in the open with the Congress in Maharashtra, is also quietly holding parleys with the BJP. The personal acrimony between NCP’s Maharashtra state unit chief, Mr Chhagan Bhujbal (who was earlier a Shiv Sena-backed Mayor of Mumbai) and the Shiv Sena supremo, Mr Bal Thackeray, is coming in the way of NCP extending a helping hand to the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in that state. If this is worked out, then two Ministries at the Centre may be offered to the NCP.

Broadly speaking, the formula for giving ministries is being based on the calculation of one minister per seven MPs. Parties with more than seven MPs may get one Cabinet and a State Minister’s berth. Similarly, parties with less than seven MPs may have to be satisfied with a junior ministership.

The Telugu Desam has indicated that it is not interested in joining the ministry. Indications are that Haryana’s ruling party, the INLD, may again prefer to shy away.

With the defeat of both Mr Surjit Singh Barnala and Mr Sukbir Singh Badal, there is some confusion about representation from Punjab. One school of thought being promoted is that Mr Barnala be inducted again and brought into the Rajya Sabha later. There are no vacancies in Punjab, thus unless this move is blessed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, it may remain a non-starter though the proponents of this line of thinking have sought the support of the DMK, relying on the bonhomie between that party and Mr Barnala dating back to 1991 when he was the Tamil Nadu Governor.

Other high profile aspirants from Punjab for a ministerial berth include Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa or Mr Balwinder Singh Bhunder, both Rajya Sabha members of the Shiromani Akali Dal and party general secretaries and the sole BJP winner from the state, Mr Vinod Khanna.