Manmohan expands cabinet with new faces

Salman Khurshid was on Sunday made External Affairs Minister and Veerappa Moily given Petroleum portfolio as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook a major reshuffle of Council of Ministers and inducted 17 new faces. 

As part of the revamp of the government that had faced criticism over perceived policy paralysis and corruption allegations, Pawan Kumar Bansal was shifted from Water Resources to Railways and S Jaipal Reddy moved from the high profile Petroleum to Science and Technology and Earth Sciences. 

Former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman and veteran leader from Karnataka K Rahman Khan made a re-entry into the government as Minority Affairs Minister, a portfolio held by Khurshid. In UPA-I, Mr. Khan was a Minister of State. 

Surprisingly, Mr. Khurshid, who also held the portfolio of Law, got the high-profile External Affairs Ministry despite the controversy surrounding him over allegations of financial bungling by a trust run by him and his wife. 

Dinsha Patel was promoted as Cabinet Minister in Mines Ministry in the reshuffle and expansion that raised the strength of the Council of Ministers to 78 from 67.

Rahul Gandhi, who was earlier speculated to join the government, kept away with the Prime Minister saying the young leader wants to strengthen the party, notwithstanding his request to become a minister. 

The exercise, which the Prime Minister said was “hopefully, probably the last” before next Lok Sabha polls, was confined to Congress party barring the inclusion of Tariq Anwar of NCP as a Minister of State. 

Twentytwo ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, the Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Cabinet Ministers and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj. 

The Prime Minister took away portfolios from ministers holding more than one charge and filled in the vacancies created by exit of six Trinamool Ministers, death of Vilasrao Deshmukh and resignation of eight Ministers including S M Krishna, Virbhadra Singh, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik and Subodh Kant Sahai. 

The new faces brought in included actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi who has been made MoS with Independent charge in the Ministry of Tourism while Manish Tewari has been given I&B, a portfolio held by Ambika Soni who resigned on Saturday. 

Shashi Tharoor, who had to quit as MoS External Affairs in April 2010 in the wake of allegations of wrongdoing in buying stakes in an IPL team, has made a comeback as MoS HRD. 

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal shed HRD portfolio to M M Pallam Raju, who has been promoted in the reshuffle. Earlier, Raju was Minister of State for Defence.

Another significant promotion has been made in the case of Ashwani Kumar who has been upgraded to the Cabinet rank and given the charge of the Law Ministry held by Khurshid. 

Yet another upgradation has been made in the case of Harish Rawat, who was overlooked for the post of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand earlier this year and had revolted. 

From MoS in Agriculture Ministry, he has now been made a Cabinet Minister for Water Resources. 

The other promotions are Dinsha Patel from MoS to Cabinet Minister in the Mines Ministry and Ajay Maken, who has been shifted from Sports to Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. 

Significant changes have also been made by upgrading three young Ministers of State, considered close to Rahul Gandhi, and giving them independent charge. 

They are Jyotiraditya Scindia who has been given Power and Sachin Pilot Corporate Affairs, both of which were held by Moily in Cabinet rank. Jitendra Singh, who was MoS in Home Ministry, has been given Youth and Sports Affairs. 

Veteran Congress leader and MoS K H Muniyappa has been shifted from Railways to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Bharatsinh Solanki from Railways to Drinking Water and Sanitation with Independent charge. 

The other Ministers of State who have been shifted are D Purandeswari (from HRD to Commerce and Industry), Jitin Prasada (from Road Transport to Defence and HRD), S Jagathrakshakan (from I&B to New and Renewable Energy), K C Venugopal (from Power to Civil Aviation) and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajiv Shukla who gets additional charge of Planning. 

MoS External Affairs E Ahamed has shed the additional charge of HRD while R P N Singh has been shifted from Petroleum to Home. 

Cabinet Minister Vayalar Ravi retains Overseas Indian Affairs, Kapil Sibal Communications and IT, Jairam Ramesh Rural Development while Selja has been shifted from HUPA to Social Justice and Empowerment. 

The new faces who have been inducted as MoS are K Suresh (Labour and Employment), Tariq Anwar (Agriculture and Food Processing Industries), K J Suryaprakash Reddy (Railways), Ranee Narah (Tribal Affairs), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhry (Railways), A H Khan Chowdhry (Health and Family Welfare), S Satyanarayana (Road Transport and Highways), Ninong Ering (Minority Affairs), Deepa Dasmunsi (Urban Development), P Balram Naik (Social Justice and Empowerment), K Kruparani (Communications and IT) and Lalchand Kataria (Defence). 

Railways portfolio was being held by C P Joshi as additional charge since Trinamool Congress quit the government last month. 

- The Hindu News