#GovernmentContinuity

[mediaech]

PM Modi signals continuity in portfolio allocation, reposes trust in old team as many of them retain departments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out a message of continuity by retaining his top lieutenants in key Ministries while allocating portfolios to his Council of Ministers on June 10.

The four big Ministries that are part of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) — a key body within the Union Cabinet — saw the return of all the Ministers with Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar retaining the portfolios of Home, Defence, Finance, and External Affairs respectively.

Mr. Modi, who now needs the support of allies to lead the latest National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, also left key infrastructure Ministries largely unchanged. Nitin Gadkari retained Road Transport and Highways, Sarbananda Sonowal retaining Shipping and Ports, and Ashwini Vaishnaw keeping Railways, along with Information Technology and Information and Broadcasting. Jyotiraditya Scindia seems to have received a leg-up by securing the Telecom Ministry, another key infrastructure portfolio. Only Aviation saw a change, and was handed to Ram Mohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), a portfolio that had been with his party in the first Modi government, when Ashok Gajapati Raju had held the Ministry.

Team NDA 3.0

Prime minister holds all important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any minister.

Former Chief Ministers who were newly sworn in as Ministers were also given key Ministries. Former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar got the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry on a day when Mr. Modi’s first Cabinet meeting with his new team cleared a proposal for building three crore houses in urban and rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY). Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan received charge of the crucial Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, a reflection of the fact that under his tenure as CM, wheat production, especially that of the famous Sharbati wheat, had broken all records.

At a time when calls for a caste census are being raised both from outside and within the NDA government, Virender Kumar has been retained with the Social Justice portfolio.

Interestingly, with the Lok Sabha seeing a far bigger contingent of Opposition MPs, Arunachal Pradesh MP Kiren Rijiju has been made Minister for Parliamentary Affairs as he is seen to be affable and shares a good rapport across the political spectrum. Mr. Rijiju being a Buddhist has been given charge of the Minority Affairs Ministry.

Even with allies, allocations have followed a pattern of continuity, with Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ holding the portfolio of Panchayati Raj, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry, earlier held by Giriraj Singh, who is a BJP MP from the same State of Bihar. H.D. Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (S) got the portfolio of Heavy Industries and Steel, which was held by the Shiv Sena before they parted ways with the BJP. Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is Cabinet Minister for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs). Chirag Paswan holds the Food Processing Ministry which was earlier held by his father, the late Ram Vilas Paswan.

Among Ministers from the BJP’s stable, C.R. Paatil got the crucial Ministry of Jal Shakti, a flagship post where close rapport with Mr. Modi is a key factor. Dharmendra Pradhan retained Education, Arjun Ram Meghwal retained Law while Pralhad Joshi moved to Food, Civil Supplies and Renewable Energy.

In all, the overarching message from the portfolio allocation effected by Mr. Modi seems to be that while his party’s numbers had reduced, he does not hold it against his ministerial colleagues, putting out a business-as-usual vibe as he embarks on his third-successive term.

[bbcbreakingnews]

Hyderabad civic polls: BJP MP Tejaswi Surya attacks TRS, AIMIM

HYDERABAD: BJP MP and the party’s youth wing president Tejaswi Surya on Monday hit out at the ruling TRS in Telangana, alleging that the party leadership indulged in promoting family rule, ignoring the people. He also lambasted the AIMIM, describing its president Asaduddin Owaisi as the new ‘avatar’ of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. “Government is not working for the common people of Telangana….government is working only for one family of Telangana,” he said. In BJP, an ordinary worker like him can become a national leader, he said. Taking a jab at the TRS, he said democracy’s definition has changed in Telangana. “…What is going on in Telangana and Hyderabad? Government and party, of the family, by the family, for the family,” he said. Surya, who was speaking after launching ‘Change Hyderabad’ campaign of BJP for the December 1 civic polls in Hyderabad, alleged that the TRS, as also the AIMIM , have made political parties into private companies. Saying that Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first Prime Minister to initiate political discourse on urban development, he said it was Narendra Modi, after Vajpayee, who launched 100 smart cities programme and the Amrut mission, giving importance to improvement of cities. The BJP Yuva Morcha activists should ask chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as to what happened to the funds allocated to Hyderabad by the NDA government under the smart cities programme. The funds allocated by the NDA government “went straight into the pockets of the contractors who are supporters of KCR”, he alleged. The cities across the country where BJP is in power have witnessed rapid development, Surya said. The municipal elections in Hyderabad is nationally important because a vote for (Asaduddin) Owaisi in Hyderabad would make him stronger in Bihar, UP, Maharashtra and others, he claimed. “And what does Owaisi mean? Who is Owaisi? Owaisi is Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s new avatar,” he said. Every single vote for BJP is a vote for Bharat and Hindutva and will make the country much stronger, he said. “A vote for Owaisi will mean a vote against India. A vote for Owaisi is a defeat of all good things that India stands for.We will not let this Islamization happen. Yuva Morcha Telangana, this is our ‘sankalp’ (resolve),” he said. Referring to certain alleged comments of AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi earlier, he said this is not the age of the Nizams but that of ‘Hindu hriday samrat’ Narendra Modi. TRS and AIMIM are two faces of the same coin, he claimed. Recalling having read that chief minister Rao’s vision is to make Hyderabad like Istanbul, the BJP leader said Turkey is a “100 per cent Muslim country” whose president Erdogan often speaks against India. “This is why I am not surprised that they (TRS) are in partnership with MIM.Because MIM (AIMIM) is a Muslim only party which wants to make Hyderabad of India look like Hyderabad of Pakistan.” The resolve of BJYM activists is to make Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar, he said. Responding to Surya’s comments that Rao wants to make Hyderabad like Istanbul, TRS MP Banda Prakash said the BJP is in power at the Centre and wanted to know why the BJP-led governmentcontinued ties with Turkey if its leaders made comments against India. Observing that certain comments should not be made in the context of international relations and against the country’s interests, he said BJP leaders, unfortunately, were making such comments. “Not accusing us, they should say what the Central government wants to do,” the TRS leader said. The BJP is taking the name of AIMIM and mentions it everywhere for its own benefit, he alleged. The TRS is contesting in all the 150 wards of GHMC and the party has made it clear that it does not have any alliance with the AIMIM, Prakash added.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2020/11/23/hyderabad-civic-polls-bjp-mp-tejaswi-surya-attacks-trs-aimim/