Questions are bound to be raised about whether shifting high profile federal minister Pramod Mahajan to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its general secretary is a demotion or promotion for a man who looked after three key ministries and was seen as the eyes and ears of Premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee and a future prime ministerial candidate.
Suggestions are being made that Mahajan may have been moved to the party due to his growing clout in the government and his soaring political ambitions.
The other reason, sources said could be the fact that as the communications minister he was seen as siding with two industrial houses, namely the Reliance and the Tatas, both based in his home city Mumbai. He was allegedly favouring the two industrial houses who have joined the ongoing telecom war in the country as new entrants in the limited mobility telephone services, called WLL, over cellular phone service providers.
The fact remains that Mahajan has a track record of being a leader with an extraordinary organisational capability that he displayed by persuading Lal Krishna Advani to undertake his famous Rath Yatra in 1990 and staying by his side all along. The journey on a chariot galvanised Hindu voters making the BJP the single largest party.
With make or break polls due in five Congress party ruled states, which may set the tone for next year's general elections, it may appear though that the party has put its best foot forward as Advani, who is now devoting more time to party affairs, is getting his original team back to ensure the party gets a second five year term next year in power.
One of his general secretaries M. Venkaiah Naidu last year resigned as a cabinet minister to become the BJP chief, a move that replicates Mahajan's return to the party.
The only missing link could be K.N. Govindacharya, who fell out with Vajpayee and has just surfaced after a two-year sabbatical from active politics. It is being said that it could just be a matter of time before he too is drafted back into the party.
For the record, it was a swapping of jobs between Mahajan and Arun Jaitley, who returned to government as a cabinet minister. Naidu said that since Jaitley's services were requisitioned in the government, he had sought an adequate replacement for him.
Mahajan on his own does not agree that becoming one of the five party general secretaries form being a high profile minister is a demotion for him either, saying he was happy that the party has reposed faith in him and that yesterday's reshuffle was an exercise in the direction to ensure the party gets a second term after next year's general elections.
Gulf News 2003
