海角大神

India's prime minister-to-be聽Narendra聽Modi聽was huddled in discussions with close aides and advisers on Sunday, finalizing the names of people to join his cabinet and grappling with the crucial decision of who will be his finance minister.

Two days after he won a thumping victory in the general election, there was little clarity about who聽Modi聽would include in his team, even in other key portfolios like defense, interior and external affairs.

The alliance led by聽Modi's聽Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)聽won 336 of the 543 seats in India's lower house of parliament, making it the first time in a quarter of a century that the country will not be led by a coalition government.

One of his most important decisions will be whether to name front-runner聽Arun Jaitley聽to the finance minister's post. Jaitley is eminently suited, sources in the BJP said, but he was defeated in his race for a parliamentary seat and that is a minus point.

Yet Jaitley is a former commerce minister, is regarded as a capable administrator, and is one of the few people in the party who has experience but is not too old at 61.

Modi聽and his inner circle have played their cards close to their chests and are unlikely to reveal who will take senior cabinet posts until a meeting of the BJP parliamentary leadership on Tuesday, one senior party leader said.聽Modi聽was considering merging some ministries to streamline government, other sources said.

The meeting is expected to confirm聽Modi聽as the party's parliamentary leader, after which he will meet President Pranab Mukherjee to formally start the process of forming the government. He is likely to be sworn in as prime minister this week.

The BJP was last in power 10 years ago, and some of the ministers who served then are now past their sell by date, leaving聽Modi聽a relatively small pool of experience at his disposal. On the plus side, the party's runaway success in the election has brought a lot of new faces into the decision-making lower house of parliament.

All government ministers have to be members of parliament, either the upper or lower house, although they have six months to comply. Jaitley remains a member of the upper house.

Like outgoing finance minister聽P. Chidambaram, Jaitley is a corporate lawyer and a suave English-speaking politician seen as a moderate in聽the Hindu聽nationalist BJP. He would be a popular choice with investors.

"It doesn't change the situation all that much," said a senior figure in the party, referring to Jaitley's defeat in the city of聽Amritsar. "He's already a member of parliament and he is a trusted person for聽Modi-ji. It's still a strong possibility. Whether he lost is not a big issue."

Another party source concurred he remained the front-runner for finance.

"If you look very carefully we don't have too many options," the source said.

Other sources close to聽Modi's campaign say the final decision on who will become finance minister has not yet been taken, with other names being mentioned that include Deepak Parekh, the chairman of the Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited, and聽K. V. Kamath, a former chairman of Infosys and CEO of ICICI, a bank.

Neither has political experience but sources have said聽Modi聽may look to competent leaders in the states, or even try to bring professionals into his cabinet.

SHORTAGE OF EXPERIENCE

On Saturday, Jaitley himself was asked about the shortage of experienced hands available and seemed to hint that聽Modi聽might draw on younger blood.

"I think you know, politics abhors a vacuum, and when people are given a responsibility they fill in that space that is required, it is only then that people occupy that space," Jaitley told television network CNN-IBN.

Modi, 63, is entering聽New Delhi's power circle for the first time after running the western state of聽Gujarat聽for 13 years. He was named the BJP's prime ministerial candidate last year and ran a stunning election campaign with a tight group of trusted aides, sidelining many senior party leaders.

A stream of BJP dignitaries called on聽Modi聽at the聽Gujarat聽government's Delhi office on Sunday, and the prime minister elect was due to discuss the cabinet with the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization that is an ideological parent to the BJP.

Like many of the BJP's top brass,聽Modi聽was a fulltime volunteer in the RSS before joining mainstream politics, but his free-market economic vision at times clashes with the organization's聽India-first leanings.

During a religious ceremony on the banks of the Ganges river in the holy city ofVaranasi聽on Saturday,聽Modi聽sat flanked by his closest lieutenants, party presidentRajnath Singh聽and long-term aide聽Amit Shah.

After聽Modi, the person who emerged with the most glory in the election was Shah, who ran the BJP's campaign in Uttar Pradesh, where the party won an unprecedented 71 seats out of 80 in the country's politically most important state.

Shah, who served as home minister in聽Modi's home state of聽Gujarat, is the new prime minister's most trusted aide and would be an obvious choice for a top job if it were not for one thing - he has three charges of murder against him.

Almost every other major post seems to still be up for grabs, with no clarity yet on who will take over defense, foreign affairs, trade and the home (interior) ministry.

Expectations are that these top jobs will go to seniors in the party, including party president Singh, who is being considered to run the powerful home ministry or defense ministry but may be unwilling to leave his current job.

Sushma Swaraj, who led the opposition in the lower house of parliament for the past five years but is not close to聽Modi, is also likely to get a top post as is party treasurer, businessman聽Piyush Goyal.

Modi, who campaigned on promises of "smaller government, more governance," may look at restructuring and merging some ministries, in particular those that deal with energy, BJP sources said.聽India聽currently has separate ministries for petroleum, power, coal and renewable energy.

"There will be less number of ministries...that decision should come when the cabinet is decided," said聽Gopal Agarwal, a member of BJP's executive committee who was until recently the head of its economic cell.聽