(FE)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi did well by assigning the defence portfolio again to finance minister Arun Jaitley with Manohar Parrikar’s return to Goa as chief minister—Jaitley had handled these two responsibilities in the initial months of the current NDA government successfully.But, the very fact that he had to relinquish the defence minister’s job to focus on finance ministry because both the ministries need full-time attention, in itself, points to the need of quickly getting out of this set-up.
While Jaitley has done well as finance minister, it is now time for PM Modi to look for an alternative—he is undoubtedly the most-trusted minister of the prime minister and, along with the defence minister’s responsibilities, his services are also required in managing the affairs in Parliament, which is set to witness hectic legislative activity after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) landslide victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
