Alphons joins Modi ministry, BJP veterans in Kerala left out

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 3 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision on Sunday to induct former bureaucrat K.J. Alphons into his council of ministers has left the BJP's long-standing leaders out in the cold.

Not surprisingly, the state head office of the Bharatiya Janata Party here looked deserted on Sunday when Alphons took oath even though Kerala was getting its first representation in the three-year-old Modi government. 

But there was celebration in Alphons' hometown Manimala in Kottayam district.

Alphons becomes the second BJP leader from Kerala to get a berth in the union cabinet after O. Rajagopal, who was a Minister of State in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government (1999-2004).

Rajagopal was elected to the Rajya Sabha for two terms from 1992 from Madhya Pradesh. Now, those in the know of things say Alphons too will be elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Alphons is only six years old in the BJP, which he joined in 2011. He was earlier aligned with the Left Democratic Front in Kerala.

Alphons, though not a frontline leader in the Kerala BJP, is popular in Delhi where he came to be known as the 'demolition man' for knocking down 14,310 illegal buildings when he worked as a Commissioner in the Delhi Development Authority.

At that time, he stood his ground even after his wife and children came under attack.

Ever since news surfaced that there would be a reshuffle and expansion of the Modi ministry, the names that figured prominently as probables from Kerala were actor-turned-Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi, state BJP President Kummanem Rajasekheran and former state BJP President V. Muraleedharan.

No one even in the party circles or the media took Alphons' name.

One reason why Modi and BJP President Amit Shah may have opted for Alphons is to warn the warring BJP leadership in the state that they needed to get their act together to take on the entrenched Left and the Congress.

But the state BJP leadership put up a brave face on Sunday.

Kummanem Rajasekheran said in a statement: "Alphons joined the BJP fed up with the corrupt ways of the Left and the Congress. This is an Onam gift for Kerala and an appreciation for his various positions he has taken."

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said he does not think any single leader in the Kerala BJP was happy about Alphons becoming a minister.

There are some who think that Alphons has been made a minister to appease the numerically strong Christian community in Kerala.

In June, Amit Shah met leading Church heads in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram to say that a healthy relationship with the Christian community was essential for the party to make further inroads in Kerala.

List of Union Council of Ministers

New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Following is the complete list of Union Council of Ministers after Sunday's reshuffle and expansion:

Narendra Modi: Prime Minister, in charge of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space, all important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister.

Cabinet Ministers: 

1 Rajnath Singh - Home Affairs
2 Sushma Swaraj - External Affairs
3 Arun Jaitley - Finance and Corporate Affairs
4. Nitin Gadkari - Road Transport and Highways; Shipping; and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
5 Suresh Prabhu - Commerce and Industry
6 D.V. Sadananda Gowda - Statistics and Programme Implementation
7 Uma Bharati - Drinking Water and Sanitation
8 Ramvilas Paswan - Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
9 Maneka Sanjay Gandhi - Women and Child Development
10 Ananthkumar - Chemicals and Fertilisers; Parliamentary Affairs
11 Ravi Shankar Prasad - Law and Justice; and Electronics and Information Technology
12 Jagat Prakash Nadda - Health and Family Welfare
13 Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati - Civil Aviation
14 Anant Geete - Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
15 Harsimrat Kaur Badal - Food Processing Industries
16 Narendra Singh Tomar - Rural Development; Panchayati Raj; and Mines
17 Chaudhary Birender Singh - Steel
18 Jual Oram - Tribal Affairs
19 Radha Mohan Singh - Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
20 Thaawar Chand Gehlot - Social Justice and Empowerment
21 Smriti Zubin Irani - Textiles; and Information and Broadcasting
22 Harsh Vardhan - Science and Technology; Earth Sciences; and Environment, Forest and Climate Change
23 Prakash Javadekar - Human Resource Development
24 Dharmendra Pradhan - Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
25 Piyush Goyal - Railways; and Coal
26 Nirmala Sitharaman - Defence
27 Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi - Minority Affairs

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

1 Rao Inderjit Singh - Planning (independent charge); and Chemicals and Fertilisers
2 Santosh Kumar Gangwar - Labour and Employment
3 Shripad Naik - Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) 
4 Jitendra Singh - Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge); Prime Minister's Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; and Department of Space
5 Mahesh Sharma - Culture (independent charge); and Environment, Forest and Climate Change
6 Giriraj Singh - Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
7 Manoj Sinha - Communications (independent charge); and Railways.
8 Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore - Youth Affairs and Sports (independent charge); and Information and Broadcasting.
9 R.K. Singh - Power; and New and Renewable Energy
10 Hardeep Singh Puri - Housing and Urban Affairs
11 Alphons Kannanthanam - Ministry of Tourism; and Electronics and Information Technology

Ministers of State

1 Vijay Goel - Parliamentary Affairs; and Statistics and Programme Implementation
2 Radhakrishnan P. - Ministry of Finance; and Shipping
3 S.S. Ahluwalia - Drinking Water and Sanitation
4 Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi - Drinking Water and Sanitation
5 Ramdas Athawale - Social Justice and Empowerment
6 Vishnu Deo Sai - Steel
7 Ram Kripal Yadav - Rural Development
8 Hansraj Gangaram Ahir - Home Affairs
9 Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary - Mines; and Coal
10 Rajen Gohain - Railways
11 V.K. Singh - External Affairs
12 Parshottam Rupala - Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; and Panchayati Raj
13 Krishan Pal - Social Justice and Empowerment
14 Jaswantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor - Tribal Affairs
15 Shiv Pratap Shukla - Finance
16 Ashwini Kumar Choubey - Health and Family Welfare
17 Sudarshan Bhagat - Tribal Affairs
18 Upendra Kushwaha - Human Resource Development
19 Kiren Rijiju - Ministry of Home Affairs
20 Virendra Kumar - Women and Child Development; and Minority Affairs
21 Anantkumar Hegde - Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
22 M.J. Akbar - External Affairs
23 Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti - Food Processing Industries
24 Y.S. Chowdary - Science and Technology; and Earth Sciences
25 Jayant Sinha - Civil Aviation
26 Babul Supriyo - Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
27 Vijay Sampla - Social Justice and Empowerment
28 Arjun Ram Meghwal - Parliamentary Affairs; and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
29 Ajay Tamta - Textiles
30 Krishna Raj - Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
31 Mansukh L. Mandaviya - Road Transport and Highways; Shipping; and Chemicals and Fertilisers
32 Anupriya Patel - Health and Family Welfare.
33 C.R. Chaudhary - Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; and Commerce and Industry
34 P.P. Chaudhary - Law and Justice; and Corporate Affairs
35 Subhash Ramrao Bhamre - Defence
36 Gajendra Singh Shekhawat - Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
37 Satya Pal Singh - Human Resource Development; and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation