The art of shuffling, reshuffling : Cabinet reshuffle on the card
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 08 2019 -

The art of shuffling. In card games, especially gambling involving high stakes, it is broadly understood as randomising a deck of cards so that all the players or rather the gamblers are put on an even stand, where the chances of getting the winning hand stands equally for all.

This is of course followed by the cut to neutralise any manipulation that the one shuffling the card might effect to land the winning hands as his cards.

This is about gambling but when it comes to shuffling or reshuffling in the world of politics, where almost everything is understood through the prism of portfolios and power sharing between the coalition partners, it could mean much more than just dealing a hand or shuffling a deck of cards.

Chief Minister N Biren must be aware of this, given that he is an old hand in the world of politics having entered electoral politics nearly 20 years back, after putting away his pen as an Editor.

Now with the Chief Minister himself publicly stating that a Ministry reshuffle is on the card this month, the question uppermost in the minds of everyone is “who will be in, who will be out and who will remain in status quo.”

Tough to say anything at this point, but the just held Cabinet meeting held at Ukhrul district headquarters with only 50 percent of the Council of Ministers in attendance must be weighing in the minds of all.

The pending Ministry reshuffle is all that more interesting since the present regime is a BJP led coalition Government and all eyes will definitely be on the two major partners, the NPP and the NPF.

Performance, loyalty and discipline.

These are the qualities which the Chief Minister stressed while highlighting that a reshuffle would mean some being shunted out and others inducted in the Ministry and this was topped off by the observation that 40 percent of the MPs in the Union Council of Ministers have been dropped in the second stint of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister.

A reshuffle of the Council of Ministers should ideally be dictated by the need to add more muscle to the performance of the Government and if what the Chief Minister said is anything to go by then one may look forward to a more robust Council of Ministers.

However if anything goes wrong, then the first among equals can be held responsible and this is where the Chief Minister will need to tread with caution.

The right counsel is the need of the time.

With speculations doing the round that the axe may fall on some members of the coalition partners, the reshuffle is being watched with interests.

Just what would be the response of the coalition partners if they are dropped is a question that must be weighing in the minds of all.

Already reports have come in that State NPP president Thangminlen Kipgen has left for Shillong to meet NPP president and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma.

What happens at the Shillong meet will go to a certain extent in determining how the NPP may respond in case any of them is dropped from the Council of Ministers.

What about the NPF, which until recently had voiced its disappointment with the BJP ?

Certainly the coming days will be interesting and this is where the political acumen of N Biren Singh will be tested to the hilt .