NEW DELHI, May 18 (Reuters): India’s prime minister-to-be Narendra Modi was huddled in discussions with close aides and advisers on Sunday, finalising names of people to join his cabinet and grappling with the crucial decision of who will be his finance minister.
Two days after he won a thumping victory in the general election, there was little clarity about who Modi would include in his team, even in other key portfolios like defence, interior and external affairs.
One of his most important decisions will be whether to name front-runner Arun Jaitley to the finance minister’s post. Jaitley is eminently suited, sources in the BJP said, but he was defeated in his race for a parliamentary seat and that is a minus point. Yet Jaitley is regarded as a capable administrator, and is one of the few people in the party who has experience but is not too old at 61.
Modi and his inner circle have played their cards close to their chests and are unlikely to reveal who will take senior cabinet posts until a meeting of the BJP parliamentary leadership on Tuesday, one senior party leader said. Modi was considering merging some ministries to streamline government, other sources said. The meeting is expected to confirm Modi as the party’s parliamentary leader, after which he will meet President Pranab Mukherjee to formally start the process of forming the government. He is likely to be sworn in as prime minister this week.
All government ministers have to be members of parliament, either the upper or lower house, although they have six months to comply. Jaitley remains a member of the upper house. “It doesn’t change the situation all that much,” said a senior figure in the party, referring to Jaitley’s defeat in the city of Amritsar. “He’s already a member of parliament and he is a trusted person for Modi-ji. It’s still a strong possibility. Whether he lost is not a big issue.” Another party source concurred he remained the front-runner for finance. “If you look very carefully we don’t have too many options,” the source said. Other sources close to Modi’s campaign say the final decision on who will become finance minister has not yet been taken.
SHORTAGE OF
EXPERIENCE
On Saturday, Jaitley himself was asked about the shortage of experienced hands available and seemed to hint that Modi might draw on younger blood. “I think you know, politics abhors a vacuum, and when people are given a responsibility they fill in that space that is required, it is only then that people occupy that space,” Jaitley told television network CNN-IBN.
Modi, 63, is entering New Delhi’s power circle for the first time after running Gujarat for 13 years.
A stream of BJP dignitaries called on Modi at the Gujarat government’s Delhi office on Sunday, and the prime minister elect was due to discuss the cabinet with the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
After Modi, the person who emerged with the most glory in the election was Shah, who ran the BJP’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh, where the party won an unprecedented 71 seats out of 80 in the country’s politically most important state. Shah, who served as home minister in Gujarat, is the new prime minister’s most trusted aide and would be an obvious choice for a top job if it were not for one thing - he has three charges of murder against him.
Almost every other major post seems to still be up for grabs, with no clarity yet on who will take over defence, foreign affairs, trade and the home (interior) ministry.
Modi, who campaigned on promises of “smaller government, more governance,” may look at restructuring and merging some ministries, in particular those that deal with energy, BJP sources said. India currently has separate ministries for petroleum, power, coal and renewable energy.
“There will be less number of ministries...that decision should come when the cabinet is decided,” said Gopal Agarwal, a member of BJP’s executive committee who was until recently the head of its economic cell.
