Reshuffling of the Council of Ministers is a normal practice in a democratic State. The Chief Minister of a State enjoys the right to ask for reshuffle. It is not necessary that he explains either before or after, the reason of reshuffle. It is his prerogative to run the Government as efficiently as he can. Two days ago, the Chief Minister had asked the Ministers, Advisors and Chairpersons of public bodies to resign enabling him to streamline the administration. All of them responded to him and resigned.
In a major reshuffle all the 25 positions of the Council of Ministers have been filled with the induction of 10 new Ministers and dropping of 7 from the previous Council of Ministers. Choosing new Ministers is also the prerogative of the Chief Minister. But a closer study of the process of reshuffle will show that this exercise is not done just under some light impulse or casual like and dislike of the Chief Minister. It will be remembered that before actual reshuffling was decided upon, there was great deal of consultation among the stakeholders, party seniors and the members of the Council of Ministers as well. In particular, the entire gamut of reshuffle was thoroughly discussed by the two party leaders who are in alliance, namely NC and Congress. While the NC had a clear and decisive picture about what it actually would want in the reshuffled Ministry, PCCI had to sort out the issues among themselves. In past couple of weeks we have seen the PCCI chief Prof. Saif-ud-Din Soz and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad hammering the deal at their respective levels.
Reshuffling of the Council of Ministers appears to have been done keeping a few objectives in mind. Firstly, the main driving force behind the reshuffle has been the Assembly elections scheduled for November-December 2014. Mainstream political parties usually start planning for the forthcoming elections in good advance because the field work which they have to undertake is quite extensive, time consuming and often ridden with controversies. This is clear from the fact that the Chief Minister has accepted the resignation of both of his Advisors and made the new arrangement in which they would be strengthening the party in their respective regions in organization matters. It is the grassroots level work which ultimately matters in Assembly elections. Thus a popular political party needs to maintain its profile rather make it more attractive and people-oriented as a step towards consolidating its electoral constituency.
The second objective which the reshuffling seems to have kept in mind is of given proper representation to hitherto non-represented areas. Five districts have been classified as poor districts of the State. One important means of alleviating poverty of the districts is to give proper representation to the areas that fall within the poor districts. Thus we find that in the reshuffled Ministry, three districts, namely Kargil (Zanskar constituency), Bandipora (Gurez constituency) and Kupwara districts in the regions of Ladakh and Kashmir have been given representation. The MLAs from these districts have been made Ministers of State with independent charge. The same is true about Chenab valley with four Congress and one NC seat. Ramban is one of the poorest districts in the State.
This is the second reshuffle in the Council of Ministers ever since the present Coalition Government was formed in 2008. Since less than two years are left for the elections to the Legislative Assembly in the State, we presume that this will be the last reshuffle in the Ministry. As such, there are many expectations from this Council of Ministers especially when the Ministers of State have been given independent charge of various departments. People expect that the new Council will be able to fulfill the promises their respective party leaders had made in their manifestos when the Government was formed in 2008. The person of a Minister hardly matters when we consider what the people expect of them. It is the party manifesto and party programme that have the pivotal position in determining the success or the failure of the party in the elections. The present Government has still two years to go. For any dedicated Government, two years can be decisive in raising or lowering it profile depending on performance and delivery. We welcome the decision of the Coalition Government to give due importance to party’s organizational work on the field because the people want to be clear about what will be the future programme of political parties which they voted in the past and might also vote in future. The essence of a democratic arrangement is closeness between the leadership and the public. Transparency is what the people want from the Government they return to power. Transparency comes when the aims and objective as well as the methods of realizing that objective are made clear to the people.
The appreciable aspect of the reshuffle is that there has been good understanding between the two major mainstream parties, namely NC and Congress. Without their understanding, a smooth reshuffling would not have been possible. It is also to be appreciated that the party echelons have realized that proper representation needs to be given to hitherto backward and neglected areas. The reshuffle indicates that this demand has been fulfilled and dissenting voices have been silenced.
Another aspect of the reshuffling of the Ministry is re-allocation of portfolios. Portfolios of most of the Cabinet Ministers have been changed and re-allocations. It is part of reshuffling process and no specific motives are assigned to it. The fact is that the Chief Minister wants fresh blood to be inducted into the veins of departments so that there grows a sense of urgency and responsibility. All six Ministers, two Advisors and two Chairpersons of the Boards, whose resignations have been accepted, have been assigned important posts in the organizational structure of the National Conference. There is no indication as yet about the organization restricting of the State Congress Party. But hopefully it will also adopt same pattern and methodology.
Finally, it may be said very safely that here is the last chance for the two coalition parties to give a proof of their performance and determination to remain in power through obtaining popular vote of the people. If that does not happen, reshuffling at this point of time will become meaningless.
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