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
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