Shinde: Uncertain

New Delhi, Oct. 11: Sushil Kumar Shinde is the Congress’s man for all seasons but the Supreme Court clemency verdict has left the party wondering whether the climate is right to give him a promotion.

Shinde, the then Andhra Pradesh governor who remitted a Congress supporter’s jail term and the current Union power minister, was being considered to fill the home minister’s berth, if it fell vacant because of an expected shuffle by the Prime Minister.

Recently, after the Prime Minister indicated a number of times that there will be a new foreign minister, speculation was rife that Pranab Mukherjee will move out of defence to foreign and Shivraj Patil from home to defence.

However, the Supreme Court verdict today has prompted the Congress to think twice about Shinde, whose Dalit antecedents and a “please-all” manner had ensured that his name cropped up whenever the party wanted to keep a fallback option ready for important assignments.

Congress sources said that as governor, he had no choice but to accept the Andhra cabinet’s recommendation to reduce the sentence.

But if Shinde is given a high-profile post like that of home minister, the sources said, the Congress fears that the government would be repeatedly attacked by the BJP, which has already demanded his resignation.

With less than two months to go for the winter session, that is a “risk” the Congress is unwilling to take.

The sources said there was also a question mark over the “big” shuffle that the Prime Minister and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had reportedly contemplated. Mukherjee apparently is reluctant to move to the foreign ministry.

Sonia had recently sounded cryptic when asked to comment on the home minister’s performance, but the sources said with Shinde virtually out of the reckoning for one of the four top posts, Patil may retain his slot.