Having kept Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on the wait for several months, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee moved fast today to bring her back into his Cabinet. Vajpayee called Mamata over the telephone at Kolkata to summon her here for the swearing-in ceremony, scheduled for 1 pm tomorrow.MDMK is also expected to have a Minister of State. The choice has to be made between Gingee Ramachandran and C Krishnan. Ramachandran had resigned after one of his personal assistants was booked in a transfer scam. He was later exonerated in the case. Banerjee and Ramachandran both flew in here this evening from Kolkata and Chennai, respectively.Banerjee however remained evasive about her reinduction. Talking to mediapersons at the arrival terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, she said: ‘‘I can’t comment on whether I will join the Cabinet or not. The issue of my joining the Cabinet has been going on for the past two-and-a-half years.’’ Dismissing the media attention being given to her visit, she pointed out that this wasn’t the first time that she has been invited for a Cabinet meeting.The expansion would lead to a reshuffle of portfolios too. Banerjee, who stages a come-back after two years, is likely to get the Coal Ministry. Karia Munda, who holds Coal portfolio, is likely to be given a new ministry. Minister of State for Railways Bandaru Dattatreya may be elevated to Cabinet rank and may be assigned the Urban Development ministry, currently held by Transport Minister B.C. Khanduri as an additional charge since the resignation of Ananth Kumar. The MDMK representative may either get back Finance or move to Railways in place of Dattatreya.Mamata must thank BSP leader Mayawati for her return to the Cabinet, for, it is the withdrawal of her support, which has made Vajpayee shed a sense of complacency and consolidate his ruling coalition.Reports from Tamil Nadu about the future course of the DMK are far from re-assuring about its continuation in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Therefore, Mamata has to be placated before any crisis threatens the NDA survival. The last thing the BJP would wish is any instability at the Centre when five states are scheduled to go to the polls in November. With the expediency factor loaded in Mamata’s favour, the objections of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who had so far blocked her return to the ministry on the ground of her doubtful loyalty, are no longer relevant.Vajpayee’s quick movement is easy to understand. If he fails to effect the expansion tomorrow, he has to defer the exercise until September 25. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scheduled to arrive tomorrow night and stay till September 10. The inauspicous ‘pitri-paksh’ sets in from September 10 and would last till September 25. The Prime Minister would obviously not run the risk of keeping the expansion in abeyance till then. (With Shruti Kohli)
