Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee appointed a deputy prime minister today and is expected to swap his foreign and finance ministers in a major reshuffle seen as signalling a new reform drive.
A statement from the Indian president's office said Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani, the leading hardliner in the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), would be promoted to deputy prime minister.
Advani, 74, has long been seen as the likely successor to the 77-year-old Vajpayee. He is hawkish on relations with Pakistan and a hardline advocate of the Hindu revivalism of the BJP.
A senior source in the BJP also said Indian Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha was expected to swap jobs with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh in a mid-term cabinet reshuffle due to be unveiled in full on Monday.
Analysts said a decision to move Singh, seen as more effective than Sinha, to the finance ministry would underscore a new focus on domestic economic reforms after an easing in a military standoff with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan.
"Sinha swapping places with Jaswant Singh is absolutely sure," the senior party source said. Vajpayee has been under pressure to revitalise his 20-party coalition government after a string of electoral setbacks for the BJP in state polls earlier this year.
Many BJP members blamed Sinha for those setbacks, accusing him of failing to revive growth and of introducing policies which alienated the middle classes, the BJP's core constituency.
But the reshuffle was delayed due to the military standoff with Pakistan, which eased only after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf promised to stop Islamic militants crossing into Indian Kashmir to join a revolt against Indian rule.
