Economic situation in May 2014 was worse than what it seemed: PM Modi

Economic situation in May 2014 was worse than what it seemed: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said in a TV interview to Network18 that he suffered political damage for his decision to not issue a white paper on the state of the economy when his government took over in May 2014. He said the sluggish private investments was a continuing fallout of the economic conditions that prevailed when he took office two and a half years back but his government has resisted the temptation to take shortcuts, the positive results of which are now evident across several sectors.

In the interview, the PM he spoke on a wide range of issues, from Lutyens' culture, atrocities against Dalits, the Kashmir situation, and the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi said the economic situation in May 2014 was much worse that it seemed on the surface. Modi said he was confronted with a choice of whether to be politically expedient and put the poor state of the economy in the public domain, or keep the interest of the nation uppermost. He said his government had even mulled tabling a white paper on the economic condition in Parliament before the presentation of the first Budget.Read more

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PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

Among many political, administrative and ideological messages in the changes in the council of ministers that Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out, the most important was the unambiguous stamp of his office.

The sweep of influence of the Prime Minister’s Office in Tuesday’s rejig was rarely witnessed in the past three decades.

In expanding this influence of the central government, the PM was assisted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah.

The changes in the Cabinet worked at several levels.

They were definitely done with an eye on electoral compulsions — Dalits and Other Backward Classes found increased representation. New ministers were inducted from states that are either electorally crucial for the BJP (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat) or are going to polls in the near future (Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh).

Also, alliance building was kept in mind. Allies like Republican Party of India (A)’s Ramdas Athawale and Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel were made ministers.

There was an effort for more efficient political management, not only to reach out to Opposition parties but other stakeholders, like the media, as well as assuage different camps within the BJP.

A straight-talking M Venkaiah Naidu was made in charge of the information and broadcasting ministry, while Arun Jaitley, seen as a liberal voice in the Sangh Parivar and the party, was divested of that portfolio. Read more.