Puzzle: why some ministers were dropped in the Modi govt 37 ministers who were part of the first Narendra Modi govt have not made it to the Union council of ministers this time

TT, New Delhi, 3 June 2019: The leadership of the BJP has been silent on the criteria applied in dropping a large number of ministers in the earlier government, quite a few of them seen as good performers, leaving many in the party perplexed.

As many as 37 ministers who were part of the first Narendra Modi government have not made it to the Union council of ministers this time.

Modi was on Thursday sworn in with 57 other ministers, 24 of them of cabinet rank, nine ministers of state with independent charge and 24 junior ministers.

The earlier government had 75 ministers — 27 of cabinet rank, 11 ministers of state with independent charge and 37 junior ministers.

Apart from a prominent senior minister like Arun Jaitley, who recused on health grounds, Sushma Swaraj was quietly edged out despite appearing ready for another innings.

Sushma, 67, had undergone renal surgery and announced she would not contest the Lok Sabha elections because of health reasons. But unlike Jaitley, she had not expressed in writing her inability to take any responsibility in the new government.

Sushma, external affairs minister in the earlier government, thanked Modi in a farewell tweet after Thursday’s swearing-in when she had taken her place in the audience.

“She must have been dropped on health grounds and also to make way for a more dynamic minister in the form of former foreign secretary S. Jaishankar,” a BJP leader said.

Party insiders said Jaishankar was offered the rank of a junior minister but he had refused and so was given a cabinet berth, leading to Sushma’s exclusion.

The exclusion of Maneka Gandhi — like Sushma considered a “good performer” as women and child development minister — has perplexed many.

One possible reason, party leaders said, could be that the Gandhi family member, including her son Varun Gandhi, did not have a “very cordial” relationship with the BJP leadership. Maneka and Varun have both been elected from Uttar Pradesh.

“In Uttar Pradesh, the focus was on rewarding party leaders who had worked hard on the ground. (Party chief) Amit Shah himself picked the ministers from the politically crucial state,” a BJP leader said, trying to justify Maneka’s exclusion.

Some, like Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the high-profile junior youth affairs and sports minister with independent charge in the first Modi government, have been dropped so that their talent can be utilised for organisational work, party insiders said.

“Rathore will be used for party work in Rajasthan. We need him in the state as the party machinery is not in good shape there,” said a BJP leader from Rajasthan. The BJP won 24 of the state’s 25 Lok Sabha seats in the recent elections.

The exclusion of Jayant Sinha has also surprised many. Jayant was first junior finance minister under Jaitley and later shifted to civil aviation. Many had hoped he would get a promotion this time.

The general understanding is that he has been dropped because his father, Yashwant Sinha, had gone all out against the Modi government.

Many ministers have been dropped because of “poor performance”, party leaders said, citing the names of Radha Mohan Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Mahesh Sharma, Satya Pal Singh, Anant Hegde, Vijay Goel and Jual Oram.

“Apart from their performance, some lost out because of shooting their mouths off frequently,” a party leader said, pointing out that Hegde had frequently embarrassed the government with his blatant communal statements.

The general consensus in the party is that Shah played a key role in picking the ministers and deciding the shape and size of the new government. Shah had personally called the would-be ministers from Modi’s residence to tell them they had been selected.

“Amitbhai decided in consultation with Modiji. Amitbhai’s concurrence is important since, as party chief, he knows which leader should be given what responsibility,” a BJP leader said.