Nirmala Sitharaman has been rewarded for her silence and loyalty. In fact, she was among the first to be asked to resign from the Union Cabinet before the reshuffle. Soon the core team of Amit Shah tried to find out reactions of those who had been asked to put in their papers. Strongest reactions came from Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Phaggan Singh Kulaste. Rudy was not only agitated but he also fulminated a lot. He said if non-performance was the basis of his ouster from the Cabinet, why not was he allowed to clear his position. According to sources, he was seeking appointment to meet the Prime Minister one on one for past 8 months. But PMO did not spare any time. Even during appraisal of his ministry, the PMO used to call the secretary of the ministry and take his presentation. In such a situation when was minister’s accountability fixed? When was he allowed to convey his point of view? There is an inherent lesson in this episode – top leadership has always very short ears but has a very long nose.