KALYAN'S CABINET
Big Trouble

As officials fear chaos and confusion, Kalyan Singh's problem is to find portfolios for his ministers.

By Farzand Ahmed and Subhash Mishra

In July, when Laloo Prasad Yadav foisted his unlettered wife Rabri Devi on Bihar, the new chief minister was ridiculed not only for her mega brood of nine but also for her mega ministry of 75. Last week, BJP's Kalyan Singh went one up on her: he inducted 70 new ministers to take the strength of his Cabinet to 93, with a promise to add more "in the near future".

His decision to reward all those who backed him is one that is fraught with problems. For, with such a jumbo-sized cabinet, senior officials fear not only chaos and confusion but the state's capacity to cope with the additional annual burden on the state exchequer. For Kalyan, the more basic problem is to find portfolios for all his cabinet colleagues. The administration is finding it hard to provide the 70 new ministers with bungalows, cars, telephones and security in the overcrowded state secretariat. Each minister requires at least eight personal staff and a battery of security personnel with vehicles. Many ministers of the Mayawati government are yet to vacate their official houses. Panicky state officials admit it will be an awesome task finding men and material for the ministers. There were reasons for the panic: already, 44 officers of the rank of secretary have been removed from their chambers and asked to shift to more modest rooms in adjoining buildings. A number of others too fear that sooner or later they would be asked to move out. And almost four days after the new team was sworn in, many of the new ministers were still "working" out of their residences simply because they had no offices to go to.

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