After hysteria, ennui. Well that’s how things look post cabinet reshuffle in Rajasthan.
There was a lot of shuffle around this reshuffle; hype and headlines flew thick and fast, every millimeter covered by the Rajasthan chief minister was speculated. Probable’s were named and permutations were made, for some it could have been the biggest political move but in the end when Ashok Gehlot showed his cards it was a no-show at the political Casino Royale.
One look at the list of new cabinet and you wonder if there was any real change in the first place, a closer look reveals that there were few.
Notably the chief minister decided to take the reins of Home ministry in his hands from Shanti Dhariwal taking his tally of portfolios to 11. Dr. Jitender Singh got PHED, information & public relations, Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya got an additional charge of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) while Bharat Singh was stripped off RDPR. Rest was more or less add-on.
For me it’s hard to understand the logic behind the entire exercise, which may explain why I am not a politician or a political pundit. But I am sure even seasoned politicians would have been taken aback by the turn of events and the outcome.
What remained constant all through the process was resentment. Neither people nor the political class looks happy.
Simple question that comes to mind if this was to be the outcome what took Ashok Gehlot so long to make the cosmetic changes. What made him take frequent visits to Dilli Durbar? It clearly sent a message that CM was not in control of situation.
Braving the Bhawari Devi heat he rushed a cabinet meeting and in a matter of couple of his cabinet walks out merrily handing their resignations to their captain with some blowing the trumpet, “We all stand united behind the CM, it gives him a free hand to reshuffle.”
A question arises that when the team resigned was it right for the captain to cling on to the seat? If it was the case in corporate world or any other world except politics the outcome would have been different.
Well this is politics, so barring a couple of changes from the whole gamut of speculations, no-one really moved departments.
This could have been done sans all the drama.
That’s not all, meeting the press he stated that this wasn’t the last reshuffle, he will keep a hawks eye and tighten the screws.
Now with a freshly pressed old new cabinet, wonder what magic and will the CM wave. Also will the 11 departments including finance and home get their due remains to be seen?
Avinash Kalla 