And so Leela Devi Dookun it is. The waiting was long for the many contenders for the seat left vacant by Sylvio Michel. The waiting was also long for those of us who were trying to guess what was going on in Bérenger?s mind after speculations that Françoise Labelle was the safest bet for the coveted office.

The initial speculations that Labelle was going to be nominated were followed by an uproar. MPs such as Paya, Barbier, Allet all came forward to say that they should be considered as well. But the one who probably made more of an impact was Gérard Paya. He said he was entitled to the office because it was the MSM who had lost a partner and so the ministerial post should go back to the MSM.

Back in the country, Bérenger expressed his ?disappointment? that his said intention to nominate Labelle was not supported by many MMM members. Statement that won him the justified criticism that he was involving his ?comité central? in matters concerning the government.

The prime minister explained that the sole reason why he wanted to nominate a woman was because Mauritius was doing so badly in terms of feminine representativeness. Then suddenly Bérenger realized that he could both keep his partner happy and nominate a woman, as had been his initial intention. The only problem is that the woman could not be Françoise Labelle. With the nomination of Leela Dookun, Bérenger has killed several birds. In style. Those who would dare criticize the move will be called antifeminists. The MSM cannot complain as it has more ministers than the MMM and no one can accuse Bérenger of treating his partner with disdain.

The most surprising thing however was probably the choice of a member of the said ?majority? to replace a ?minority?. No one was expecting this. So much so that when Michel resigned, everybody took it for granted that the new minister would be somebody from the same background. Nobody from any other community came forward to claim the seat precisely because of this deep seeded belief that those things cannot be changed, that it was the only politically correct thing to do. The terrible thing was that at the time all those who came forward thought that their ancestral background had already qualified them to win a ministerial seat. Bérenger proved them wrong.

As good as those news may be, we know this is no innocent move. Bérenger is much too clever for this. What is the message he wants to pass to the people? That he also cares about the ?majority?? That he is not just there to protect the ?minority?? General elections are fast approaching and the man simply cannot afford to get it wrong. But the question remains : is defying all conventions and nominating a member of the said ?majority? enough to control damage? Is the move enough to calm the few unhappy at the MSM even if it does their leader? Time, I suppose, will tell?