- PM and Jaitley tweak team before babus get down to working for general budget

New Delhi, Aug. 31 (The Telegraoh): Last week, as more grisly details of the Sheena Bora case kept viewers riveted to their television screens, Narendra Modi and his finance minister Arun Jaitley tweaked and restructured the team of desk jockeys at North Block.

That is, before the bureaucrats got around to crunching on statistics and proffering inputs for the general budget.

It's still nearly half a year for that but the budget will be unveiled against the backdrop of a stagnant economy and a populace waiting for the "miracles" of the " achchhe din" Modi had promised.

Finance secretary Rajiv Mehrishi was appointed home secretary today. Most of the others in the finance apparatus were shuffled around, with Modi favourite Hasmukh Adhia, an import from Gandhinagar, appointed as revenue secretary. Adhia was earlier secretary, economic affairs.

There was a new appointment, too. Tapan Ray, MD of a state-owned firm in Gujarat, was brought in as corporate affairs secretary.

The shuffle did not come as a surprise. Over the past few weeks, it had been expected that Prime Minister Modi and Jaitley would put in place a different apparatus before the job of holding pre-budget discussions with stakeholders kicked in.

Political sources in the BJP and the Centre acknowledged that the government's third budget could be a "make-or-mar" moment for the economy. "Either it would lift the economy or take it down the drain," a source said, adding the BJP wasn't really counting on winning too many elections scheduled next year.

Among the four states headed for elections in 2016, the BJP's pragmatic assessment is that it stands a chance of making it in Assam, while Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala could be counted out.

Modi is not known to be a finance and economics person to those who had worked closely with him when he was Gujarat's chief minister. Sources nonetheless claimed that come February 2016, or even before that, Modi would make it a point to familiarise himself with every aspect of the general budget, instead of acquainting himself with the broad brushstrokes.

In the Prime Minister's Office, his key input providers on the economy are his additional principal secretary, P.K. Mishra, an old Gujarat hand, and joint secretary Arvind Kumar Sharma, who had elevated the state to the country's number one investment destination with the "Vibrant Gujarat" jamborees.

But if governance was all about cracking balance sheets, Modi might have had a good night's sleep after last week's brush-up.

Delhi's babu-dom woke up to another shock this morning after Mehrishi was appointed the new home secretary in place of L.C. Goyal, who was supposed to have been hand-picked by home minister Rajnath Singh last February.

Nobody quite comprehended how Rajnath had managed to push Goyal, a Kerala-cadre officer, to the post, especially after the home minister's painful rite of passage into the Modi regime.

Rajnath had not been allowed to appoint Alok Singh, an IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh, as his private secretary. The reason was Alok had worked in an identical capacity with the UPA's external affairs minister, Salman Khurshid. That was enough to kindle suspicion in a dispensation wedded to Modi's "Congress- mukht (free)" mantra.

"That was not true. The real ground was Modi wanted to assert his authority over Rajnath from day one. Rajnath's associates lost little time in spreading the word that he was the number two in the government and would officiate in the Prime Minister's absence from India," a source said.

Till date, no formal communiqué anointing Rajnath as Modi's virtual deputy has come. An aide of the home minister, however, insisted it was "understood". "Rajnathji," the aide said, "has presided over cabinet meetings in the Prime Minister's absence."

That was not the only instance of Modi wanting to consolidate his hold over the government's command structures, nor was Rajnath the only target.

Cabinet colleague Nitin Gadkari - who passes up no chance to prove how "close" he is to RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat - was not kept in the loop on the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana till Modi announced it on August 15, 2014.

Gadkari knew of it as one of the ideas his ministry - he was briefly rural development minister after Gopinath Munde's death - had worked on.

While Gadkari couldn't get his trusted aide, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, now BJP vice-president, appointed in the rural development ministry, Maneka Gandhi, the women and child development minister, had to compromise on the choice of party loyalist Lalitha Kumaramangalam as chairperson of the National Commission for Women.

Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan had to recant his announcement of continuing with export incentives for sugar mills after the PMO asked "uncomfortable" questions.

Human resource development minister Smriti Irani, too, couldn't get a job for her close aide, Sanjay Kachroo, despite Kachroo being a member of RSS student body ABVP. His alleged unfettered access to ministry documents was resented by the PMO.

So wary are ministers of Modi's all-seeing third eye that one of them, Prakash Javadekar, has directed his officials that the PMO must be informed about all vacancies for nominations.

A minister said Modi's work credo was simple: like it or lump it. There is no second option.

Photo credit: The Telegraph