Best of luck ministers but…say people on Twitter

A full time defence minister, a new Railway minister and two former bureaucrats who are not Members of Parliament –is how most people summed up the cabinet reshuffle on Sunday. Even before the reshuffle though, sceptics asked what difference it would make since the ‘engine’ would remain the same while journalist Shivam Vij recalled a cartoon to sum up the sentiment.

Commenting on the elevation of Nirmala Sitharaman as defence minister , commentator and former Editor Shekhar Gupta wondered if it would be the JNU alumnae’s responsibility now to place a tank in the JNU campus as desired by the Vice Chancellor ! A perverse sense of humour in the PMO ?

On a lighter note: may be an alum becoming defence minister will expedite JNU Vice-Chancellor's requisition of a tank for his campus, is what he tweeted.

It took veteran cricket commentator Ayaz Memon to remind people that Rajyavardhan Rathore is not the first sportsman to be appointed the Sports Minister.

The inimitable RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav wondered, “ Will the buffalo produce more milk after being shifted from one corner to the other ?”

While people complimented the Prime Minister for inducting former bureaucrats, the following tweet from AAP sought to puncture the euphoria. Right man for the right job?

“A former diplomat in Housing; a former cop in HRD; former Home Secy in Power; former demolition man in Tourism/IT ,” tweeted Nagender Sharma

There were potshots also taken at some of the new ministers. One such tweet maintained tongue-in-cheek :

Piyush Goyal as railway minister. Rail fractures will be repaired immediately using latest Photoshop technology

There were also protesting voices over describing Sitharaman as a ‘ woman’ defence minister.

“Calling Sitharaman a woman minister does not enhance her stature …,” felt several people.

Yogendra Yadav, who led a farmers’ march through five states earlier this year, was baffled over the PM’s decision to retain the Agriculture Minister.

“Continuation of Radhamohan Singh as Agriculture Minister is a joke,” he tweeted.

Many extended their best wishes to the new ministers and wished them luck in tackling the grim economic downturn. “ Ministers face astounding challenges in the economy,” tweeted former Media advisor to former PM Manmohan Singh Pankaj Pachauri