Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has been heavily criticized ever since the colossal Balasore train accident. There have been allegations that his Ministry's negligence is what caused the accident. Vaishnaw, who was an IAS officer in the past, is not a full-time Railway Minister. He is also the Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology.
On Saturday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee opined that we need a full-time Railway Minister. Her remark has made several pro-BJP social media handles remind her that she herself handles multiple ministries in Bengal. Besides being the CM, she is also the Home Minister, Health Minister, Minority Affairs Minister and handles a few other departments as well.
A number of other popular CMs have handled multiple ministries in the history of Indian politics. When Narendra Modi was the CM of Gujarat, he used to helm multiple Ministries. Siddaramaiah, the new CM of Karnataka, is handling the Finance Ministry as well.
When a new government is formed, the CM keeps several Ministries with himself. He allocates a few Ministries to others after duly making several administrative and political calculations. As a result, the learning curve of the government suffers every time there is a delay of a few months or sometimes, even a year. All political parties are guilty of this practice.
