A sizeable Cabinet reshuffle likely to happen: Vinod Sharma

Vinod Sharma, political editor, Hindustan Times, says that a sizeable Cabinet reshuffle may happen and some of the younger ministers may get promoted in order to give the government a personality transplant, which will fit well with the policy initiatives that have been initiated by the Prime Minister.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18.

Q: The government seems to be fairly confident that they have been able to strike some sort of agreement. It is not clear whether it is the SP or the BSP. What's your own sense?

A: Mulayam and Mayawati being staunch adversaries in Uttar Pradesh are cancelling each others clout or nuisance and so long as this contradiction remains and the Congress has the elbowroom to play one against the other, I think numbers are intact. Even Mulayam isn't 100% sure whether this is time for him to force an election.

He would like his son Akhilesh Yadav to find his feet in Uttar Pradesh, to do something, which adds value to the existing constituency of Samajwadi Party in the state that sends 80 members of Parliament to the Lok Sabha. If Mulayam really is harbouring prime ministerial ambitions then he will have to wait his turn to see what time is good for him to go to elections. But even when he decides to go to elections, he would have to bear in mind that if the timing doesn't suite Mayawati, she will fill in the vacuum created by his exit.

As of today, the situation is good for the UPA. UPA will have to do a lot of ground work, policy-making, demonstrate a lot of perseverance to be able to recover some of the lost ground in political terms. The big question remains that, though it seems to be recovering some of the lost ground, where they will be able to hold to that ground and widened the net.

Finally, the Congress seems to be getting back in good nick. Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh seems to be having the power of attorney of the Congress party to push forward the reforms, to bring in new policies and to ensure that the economy gets repaired sooner than later.

Q: How significant is the cabinet reshuffle likely to be because we have got the berths left vacant by the TMC's exit and you had a lot of ministers who actually held dual portfolios. How large Cabinet reshuffle are you expecting?

A: It will be a sizeable reshuffle of the Cabinet and some of the younger ministers may get promoted in order to give the government a personality transplant, which will fit well with the policy initiatives that have been initiated by the Prime Minister.

Thereafter, there may be many changes on the organisational side in the Congress because a string of Assembly elections are due later this year and next year and the party has to get ready for that, regardless of the outcome. I think that the Congress is not going to leave any stone unturned now that seized back the initiative and it wants to keep the initiative in its hands till the time elections are over in the state assemblies.