Here's Why Narendra Modi Entrusted Young Turks With Key Jobs

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi killed at least two birds with one stone with his retire-at-75 policy: He managed to keep about 10 septua-and-octogenarian BJP leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi, CP Thakur, Bhola Singh and Karia Munda out of the ministry, which in turn helped create space for several Young Turks, whom he made ministers of state with independent charge (MoS-IC) of portfolios that are far meatier than some of the Cabinet posts he's doled out to more senior party colleagues.

Many of these MoS-IC positions have in the past been part of the Cabinet. Piyush Goyal, for instance, gets independent charge of power, coal and new & renewable energy – that's actually three Cabinet positions. Same with Nirmala Sitharaman, who has independent charge of commerce and industry. Dharmendra Pradhan, a BJP general secretary, has got petroleum and natural gas, a heavyweight Cabinet responsibility in the past. Prakash Javadekar's I&B and environment portfolios have often been in the Cabinet.

Minute planning went into the ministry-making process. Nripendra Mishra, who was on Tuesday tipped as principal secretary to PM, played a key role and helped the BJP core team come up with the relatively small council of ministers. It would have been even smaller – around 35 members – if there had been agreement on a full-scale restructuring of ministries. For instance, a proposal to merge three industry ministries – heavy industry, DIPP and micro, small and medium enterprises – couldn't be implemented because it would meant sacrificing two Cabinet posts and one of MoS.

There was another, possibly secondary, reason: The key portfolios related to manufacturing and job creation would have had to be assigned to a senior leader who may not have been as aligned to Modi's crucial reforms agenda as the Young Turks. In the Vajpayee government, the reforms process was blocked by three senior ministers – Ram Naik, Murli Manohar Joshi and Shiv Sena's Manohar Joshi.

Significantly, Nirmala Sitharaman also has additional portfolios of MoS for finance and corporate affairs under Arun Jaitley – which, in a sense, makes him 'super-minister' of finance, industry and commerce. With Sitharaman also MoS finance, other turf battles involving exporters or SEZs can be resolved more easily.

Also, in a bid to avoid differences between the finance ministry and the department of industrial policy and promotion related to FDI policy and investment agreements, there could be a move to transfer DIPP to finance.

With economic reforms high on Modi's checklist, there is talk of a search for a few competent officers to drive the agenda from the PMO. A secretary-rank officer handling infrastructure ministries is said to be on the cards. This will be a throwback to the Vajpayee PMO where initially N K Singh, and later S Narayan, coordinated the economic agenda of the NDA.

While Modi's choice of ministers is said to have been driven primarily by considerations such as like-mindedness and efficiency, some 'social balancing' was unavoidable. Kalraj Mishra, a veteran Brahmin leader from UP, who has got the micro, small and medium enterprises portfolio, appears to have been a beneficiary of Murli Manohar Joshi's enforced absence from Cabinet.