New Delhi, Oct.30 (ANI): Cocking a snook at the government for the cabinet reshuffle, leaders of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said corrupt and inefficient ministers have been promoted, while others who were honest, have been demoted.
BJP leader, Balbir Punj, while interacting with reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday, said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has not given a reason, as to why he has assigned a particular ministry to an individual.
Singh gave his cabinet an overdue facelift, bringing in younger ministers in a bid to breathe new life into his aged, scandal-tainted government ahead of state and national elections on October 28.
The reshuffle, which had been on the cards for six months, may be Singh's last chance to significantly change the direction of his government and convince the voters that the Congress party deserves a third consecutive term in 2014.
"This is prime minister's call; just like a game of 52 cards and there is no reason given as to why an individual has been assigned a particular ministry. If we observe the current scenario, then those who were inefficient and those who had allegations of corruption levelled against them, they have been promoted and honest politicians like Jaipal Reddy, who had an important ministry like the Petroleum and Natural Gas under him, where there are financial transactions to the tunes of lakhs and crores. There were no corruption charges levelled on Jaipal Reddy, nobody knows why he was removed from the ministry?" he said.
Reacting over reports of anti-graft activist Arvind Kejriwal seeking foreign funding for his NGOs, Punj said that since he is a politician now, he is answerable to the public now.
"Arvind Kejriwal, who is a civil society activist, is now a politician too. He has already announced a political party, so the questions that are generally posed to a politician are applicable to him too and that is a practice in our country. So, Kejriwal cannot escape that and he has to answer the public about the funding of his NGOs," he said.
BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said there was a lot of anger among the public over rising corruption, but he added that people who come forth to fight against the malice uncover a scam one day and forget about it the next day.
"See, there is a lot of anger among the public over rising corruption in the country. So, if any person or organisation comes forward to fight against corruption, I do not think there is anything wrong with that. But, it is sad that there are some people who have literally opened a business to fight against scams and corruption. They have started a weekly market and they uncover a scam one day and they forget about it the next day and move to other scams the third day," he said.
Congress spokesman Sandeep Dikshit said the cabinet reshuffle was the prerogative of the prime minister and said that the decision must be respected, since a ministry has been assigned to an individual keeping in mind the capability of a minister.
"Why is it upsetting? This is the prerogative of the prime minister and it is a matter of great honour to be assigned any ministry. If no one takes a position or does not take over, it is a matter of time. These are all baseless reports; nobody is upset. This is the prerogative of both the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi. The prime minister assigns a department keeping in mind the capability of an individual and how well he will be able to handle it. This is his decision and we must respect it," he said.
The Prime Minister re-jigged about a third of his 30-member cabinet, and reshuffled a number of key portfolios, including, oil, foreign policy, railways and justice.
As part of the image makeover, he also brought in a raft of new, younger state ministers who will not have cabinet-level posts.
Notably absent from the new names was Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has governed India for much of the 65 years since independence.
Gandhi is expected to be the party's candidate for prime minister in the 2014 election but has so far shied away from a formal role in government.
Despite the reshuffle, relatively few senior ministers in the cabinet led by 80-year-old Singh are under 65. (ANI)
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