Four ministers, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, have been promoted In Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet reshuffle on Sunday. They are seen as "good performers" and impressed the PM with their dedications.
The elevation of Dharmendra Pradhan and Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajya Sabha MPs from Odisha and Karnataka, are also reflective of BJP's political calculation in these poll- bound states.
Karnataka, like Odisha, goes to polls in 2018 and the BJP is pulling out all stops to wrest power in these states from the Congress and the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD, which was a once a part of National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Here are the possible reasons behind their elevations:
Piyush Goyal: The minister of state for power does thing and, most importantly, is seen doing things. He reportedly delivered on the government's plan to provide electricity, but also also brought about a turnaround in power production.
A chartered accountant by profession, 53-year-old Goyal was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharasthra last year for the second time.
According to Press Information Bureau statement: “Within three years, India’s total power capacity has increased by nearly one third (31% or an addition of 76,577 MW) from 243GW in March 2014 to 320 GW in Mar 2017 and the conventional or coal based power capacity (which is the mainstay of the country’s overall power capacity) has increased by 26% (one fourth) from 214 GW in Mar 2014 to 270 GW in Mar 2017.
“Energy shortages in 2014 were 42,428 million units (4.2%), which came down to 7,459 MU in 2017 (0.7%). Similarly, peak energy shortage in 2014 was 6,103 MW (4.5%) which came down to 2,608 MW (1.6%) in 2017.
Significantly, India has turned around from a net importer of electricity to net exporter of electricity exporting around 5,798 Million Units to Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar in 2017.”
Goyal has been promoted as the next railway minister replacing Suresh Prabhu.
Dharmendra Pradhan: As the minister of state for petroleum and natural gas in the Narendra Modi-led NDA government, he successfully delivered on "Give it Up" plan –Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s project to urge better-off sections of society to forego their LPG subsidy that can be utilised in providing subsidized LPG connections to the poor. Pradhan's rise comes on the back of his performance as a minister of state, which is spearheading Modi's pet scheme, 'Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana', of providing LPG connections.
His father, Debendra Pradhan, was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and an MP from Odisha's Deogarh constituency.
In 2004, Pradhan was elected a member of the 14th Lok Sabha from the same constituency and held the seat till 2009, before he lost the subsequent poll. He was also a member of the Odisha legislative assembly between 2000 and 2004.
Nirmala Sitharaman: The former BJP spokesperson played her role as the commerce minister well. Amid the Doklam standoff, Sitharaman recently visited China for a BRICS meeting and reportedly did a good job. Sitharaman (58) will be the BJP's first woman face in the Union cabinet from south India. She is an alumna of the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: The Only Muslim face in the council of ministers. He defended the government strongly when the opposition cornered the government over beef ban and mob lynching by cow vigilantes. He has been handling the twin protfolios of minority affairs (independent charge) and parliamentary affairs.
(With PTI inputs)
