Government doesn't inspire reforms confidence: Sardesai

The government yesterday reshuffled the Cabinet and introduced 8 new ministers of state to the posts vacated after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Trinamool Congress exits as well as resignations of Pawan Kumar Bansal, Ashwani Kumar, CP Joshi and Ajay Maken.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief, CNN-IBN said the reshuffle does not show strong intent to bring about reforms nor is the government serious in improving the current economic logjam the country is in.

"The government's track record does not inspire any confidence. Though there have been periodic developments but at the end of the day, the government hasn’t delivered on its so called intent to push ahead with reform," adds Sardesai.

Below is the verbatim transcript of Sardesai's interview:

Q: Before we talk about this Cabinet changes, there has been a promise of sorts from the government that come the end of June, there is going to be a blitz of policy changes whether it is on foreign direct investment (FDI) or on oil and gas, are you getting the sense that there is a degree of seriousness about it and to get it done before the monsoon session begins?

A: Let us be honest. The government’s track record does not inspire any confidence. Yes, there have been these announcements made at periodic intervals that we are serious, we are getting the economy back on track but at the end of the day the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the fact is that this government hasn’t delivered on its so called intent to push ahead with reform. There was nothing in that cabinet reshuffle yesterday, which inspired confidence that this government means business.

We will have to see. It appears that Chidambaram and Anand Sharma have been left with the onerous task of taking this government through the slog overs. One could suggest that Chidambaram is the one minister in this government, if there is any, who can possibly deliver in terms of his commitment to certain policies but he has hemmed in at the moment by the fact that there is a general sense of fatigue and almost ennui in the way this government operates at the moment.

Hence, I would not hold out too much confidence but there will be some decisions that will have to be taken within the next 15-20 days. Whether they will include the kind of basket of the reforms that the government is talking about, I think there is a question mark on that.

Q: What are your thoughts on Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) leaving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and whether that is making the possibility of a fairly strong United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led or NDA led government post 2014 look a little bit more difficult with the number of independent regional parties swelling with every passing day? Are we looking at an even more fractured mandate in 2014 now?

A: One thing is clear that both the national parties, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress face serious challenges. Both of them are living in denial. The BJP’s approach has been to put all their eggs in Narendra Modi’s basket and that is a huge risk that they have taken.

The Congress’ approach has been a mix of complacency and almost an unwillingness to accept somewhere that the party is in serious decline. They have now put their eggs in the belief that a fragmented opposition will automatically benefit the Congress.

The fact is - and you are right there – the only grouping which has a smile on its face today is the non-Congress, non-BJP grouping. Yes, if Nitish Kumar is able to do in Bihar what Naveen Patnaik did in Orissa – that is a big ‘if’ at the moment – you could be heading towards an even more fragmented polity wherein post 2014, it is these smaller regional parties which may not necessarily get a prime ministerial candidate of their choice but will certainly play a greater role in government formation than they have in the past.

I do not think we are in the 1996 like situation where you will have necessarily a third-front government because there are internal divisions within the third front. But you could be back to 1989 like situation where no political party gets more than 200 seats, no individual party and then it is depended on outside support. So, one could be heading more towards 1989 if this trend continues than 1996.

For complete interview, watch accompanying video