Rudy gets civil aviation, BJP gains at NDA's cost

NEW DELHI: The latest Cabinet reshuffle has cost Shahnawaz Hussain the coveted civil aviation portfolio. While Hussain has been moved to textiles, the new boss of Air-India and Indian Airlines would be Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who assumes independent charge as minister of state. The Prime Minister's initial objective in making changes in his ministry was to strengthen the National Democratic Alliance and consolidate his own position.But after Saturday's late evening swearing-in, his authority stood considerably eroded and the NDA weakened. The BJP - as against that of the coalition it leads - represented by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and party president M Venkaiah Naidu emerged victorious. One, Arun Shourie, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, all of whom have more than one portfolio, have not been touched. Indeed, far from strengthening his own position, the PM was not even able to act on either of the two points he had stated publicly at the end of his Manali sojourn a week ago - he was neither able to induct Mamata Banerjee, nor lighten the burden of the high-profile ministers. Then, the BJP insisted that the cash-rich rural development ministry stay with the party, and so it has been given to Kashiram Rana. The RLD's Ajit Singh, who was forced out of the cabinet has been replaced by BJP general secretary Rajah Singh in the agriculture ministry. Instead of inducting the Trinamul Congress's Mamata Bannerjee, the National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and a functioning DMK minister to handle commerce - as had been the express desire of DMK chief M Karunanidhi - the reshuffle exercise saw the exit of Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal from the NDA and a question mark placed before the future BJP-Trinamul equation. And with the RLD's national executive meeting deferred by a few days, the fate of the Mayawati-led government is also in question now. The government is backed by 13 RLD MLAs, and its five ministers have already resigned. Those inducted from friendly parties were all lightweights - the Indian Federal Democratic Party's P C Thomas from Kerala and Nagamani from the breakaway Rashtriya Janata Dal. Subodh Mohite of the Shiv Sena merely replaces colleague Balasaheb Vikhe Patil as MoS heavy industries. Additionally, the BJP has gained three new MoSs - Madhya Pradesh's Prahlad Patel, Rajasthan's Kailash Meghwal and Uttar Pradesh's Swami Chinmayananda. The BJP line is very clear - the changes made are all with a view to strengthening its position in MP and Rajasthan, where elections are due later in the year, and to rebuild its base in UP: Rajah Singh, a former chief minister, is expected to consolidate the Rajput hold, while Chinmayananda - who has come in at the request of the VHP and is a leading light of the Ram Temple movement - is a Yadav.