Is cabinet reshuffle on the cards?

Rumours have it that PM is deliberating upon swapping several ministers’ portfolios

ISLAMABAD:

Rumour mills have started churning out information that Prime Minister Imran Khan is once again all set to rejig his cabinet two days after he sacked his adviser on accountability and interior over his failure to deliver results.

Following his set rule of keeping only those who could deliver on certain positions, it was speculated that Premier Imran this time around was deliberating upon swapping portfolios of several key ministers, including information, interior and defence, amid reports that the interior minister was even ready to resign but not leave his portfolio.

“No need for statements,” Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Express Tribune when asked to comment on the development. “[I have] already contradicted it on TV channels.”

Since the PM’s accountability czar Shahzad Akbar was shown the door on Tuesday, rumours were doing the rounds that the prime minister was considering giving information ministry’s portfolio to Rashid, interior ministry’s to Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and defence portfolio to incumbent Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Chaudhry.

Several PTI leaders, including ministers, however, expressed ignorance about the development, saying that they had “no idea” about it.

Some others said that they were away while a few other PTI leaders did not hesitate to admit that such decisions were way above their level. “The good thing about rumours is that either they are true or completely false,” one quipped.

Officially, Special Assistant to the PM on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill termed them as false on his Twitter handle, saying “incorrect news”. His denial, however, was taken with a pinch of salt as he had also refuted the news about PM Imran mulling over sacking Akbar days before he was finally removed.

His statement following Akbar’s removal that he was bound to follow the official line while clarifying that his personal views could be different from what he was asked to say had raised several eyebrows as it implied that the official line could be different from reality.

Party sources revealed that performance and delivery were the only things that the premier was interested in as he felt exhausted by hearing excuses after excuses and inordinate delays in the completion of projects for one reason or another for a long time.

“This is not like any previous governments; everyone is asked about his work,” a special assistant said requesting anonymity. “It is the first time that ministers are asked about their performance,” he said while giving examples of several PTI stalwarts, including Asad Umar, who had earlier been removed or replaced.

“It’s not like you’ll get a portfolio, keep it for five years and no one is going to question anything,” he added. “Gone are the days when that used to happen.”

In April 2019, PTI stalwart Asad Umar was sacked. Hours after being shown the door, Umar had reportedly admitted that he was removed by the PM because of his “performance”.

Since 2018 when the PTI came to power, the premier has reshuffled the cabinet on a number of occasions. The frequent reshuffles have taken place against a backdrop of declining popularity of the ruling party because people have been expressing their disapproval of the government’s economic policies since it came to power.

Though the premier has often blamed the previous governments – especially the PPP and the PML-N’s rule between 2008 and 2018 – for country’s economic crisis, it was surprising to see that he chose former lawmakers of the of the opposition party as rescuers. Incumbent Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and former finance czar Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had served under former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, who belongs to the PPP, between 2009 and 2011.

Party insiders have long been saying that the premier frequently chairs spokespersons’ meetings and issues directions to defend government policies at all the forums, adding that they also have acknowledged that the narrative of simply blaming the previous governments is not yielding the desired results anymore and it is time to back up the claims made earlier through performance.