Cabinet Reshuffle: Shock for non-performers and kudos for achievers

The message that came from Prime Minister Narendra Modi handing out promotion for four ministers and big surprises in reshuffle is accountability in governance and the need to bring administrative experience and talent into his council of ministers for achieving last mile delivery ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
 
The quadruplet rewarded for their work -- besides Nirmala Sitharaman -- are Piyush Goyal, who was shifted upwards from Power to railways ministry, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan got an additional portfolio of skill development, and minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Their elevation to become cabinet members is being taken within the government and the BJP as "certificates of performance".

"The prime minister has set the bar very high. It is obviously clear that he is very closely monitoring the performance of each ministry and each individual and therefore decided who is to be given what responsibility," union finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters. With Sitharaman becoming the defence minister,  Cabinet Committee on Security will have for the first two women ministers. The other being external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

Goyal will be faced with the biggest challenge to bring the railways back on track and regain the confidence of the people in the mass public transport network following a series of accidents which had forced Suresh Prabhu to offer his resignation days ahead of the cabinet rejig. Government sources stated that in the performance audit exercise carried out by the PM, Pradhan, who is pitching himself as the face of the BJP in the next Odisha assembly polls, did well by executing Ujwala scheme which the party believes had fetched them electoral dividends in last polls in the state.  

Promoting Mukthar Abbas Naqvi to Cabinet rank is not only seen as an affirmation of the work of the only Muslim minister in NDA regime but it comes at a time when the BJP had applauded Centre's stand in the Supreme Court that quashed instant form of triple talaq.

The big story in the nine new faces inducted into the government was Modi's imposing faith in former union home secretary RK Singh by making him  MoS (independent charge) for power.  For an MP who had invited trouble by questioning the party's strategy in Bihar elections, Singh's baptism signifies the realisation to infuse bureaucratic expertise and talent in the government for the prompt execution of key sectoral and people empowering schemes. Other babus who joined the government are former IFS officer Hardeep Singh Puri,  former IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam and former IPS officer Satpal Singh.

Modi, on the other end, has also dropped and down graded some of his ministers who he thought did not perform as per his expectations.  Apart from Rajiv Pratap Rudy leading the pack which was shown the door,  senior leader Uma Bharti barely survived the axe and has to do with just the stripped portfolio of drinking water and sanitation. SS Ahluwalia too has slipped down the rating chart to become saffron-clad woman minister's MoS.

In the shock and awe exercise,  Vijay Goel lost the sports ministry to Rajyavardhan Rathore to become MOS holding twin portfolios of Parliamentary Affairs and Statistics and Programme Implementation.