JD ministers left untouched as Gujral effects reshuffle

NEW DELHI, June 9: Prime Minister I K Gujral trod warily over potential minefields in the Janata Dal today as he effected his first reshuff...

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NEW DELHI, June 9: Prime Minister I K Gujral trod warily over potential minefields in the Janata Dal today as he effected his first reshuffle after assuming office.

Steering clear of upsetting the precarious balance in his party by changing the portfolios of Janata Dal ministers, Gujral restricted himself to moving around Ministers of State belonging to other parties in his coalition government and allotting portfolios to the four women he inducted last week.Consequently, although Jayanthi Natarajan of the Tamil Maanila Congress has been appointed Minister of State in the Civil Aviation Ministry, controversial Aviation Minister C M Ibrahim, whose policies were sharply criticised by the Prime Minister in Nepal over the weekend, remains untouched. Ibrahim is widely regarded as a protege of former Prime Minister Deve Gowda.

Significantly, Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who has now openly joined the anti-Laloo camp, received a boost by being given sole control over his Ministry. Minister of State Satpal Maharaj has been moved to Finance.At the same time, the Laloo-followers in the Government, with the exception of Raghubans Prasad Singh, remain where they are, indicating that Gujral has opted in favour of the status quo pending the completion of the fractious party polls. Singh has been moved from Animal Husbandry to Food and Consumer Affairs.

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The only cabinet minister whose portfolio has been changed is Water Resources Minister Janeshwar Mishra of the Samajwadi Party. He is now Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Government sources said that Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was lobbying hard for the Petroleum portfolio for Mishra. Gujral has obviously decided to keep him in good humour.

Minister of State for Health Salim Sherwani has finally been shifted to the External Affairs Ministry along with Kamla Sinha of the Janata Dal. Gujral has long been wanting Sherwani for protocol duties in the Ministry. Sinha’s appointment became obvious when she accompanied the Prime Minister to Nepal.The fiery new inductee from the Telegu Desam, Renuka Chowdhury, has been allotted the Health & Family Welfare portfolio. Although she was widely tipped for the Civil Aviation Ministry, Chowdhury said she was more than pleased with her Ministry which incidentally is one of Gujral’s major concerns.

“I can concentrate on my pet subject family welfare and I intend to give a major thrust to women’s health. “I will be directly under the Prime Minister and this gives me a lot of flexibility,” she said. Other changes made by Gujral are: Minister of State for Planning Y K Alagh has been given additional charge of the Power Ministry, Labour Minister M Arunachalam (TMC) has been moved to Chemicals and Fertilisers, S Venugopalachari (TDP) moves from Power to Agriculture, Veerendra Kumar (JD) has been shifted from Finance to Labour and Sisram Ola (Congress T) has been given Water Resources (independent charge) instead of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

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The fourth new woman inductee, Ratnamala Savanoor (JD), has been made Minister of State for Planning and Programme Implementation.

Both Sinha and Natarajan refused to comment on their new jobs. They said they would first like to assume charge and get acquainted with their duties before saying anything.