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Cabinet reshuffle : Minor tinkering, no expansion |
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The long-awaited expansion of the Union Cabinet to fill up vacancies has been put off under pressure, reportedly from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. What came out on Friday, Nov. 18, was just reallocation of the portfolios of some Congress Ministers in the Manmohan Singh Government.
S. Jaipal Reddy has lost the high profile portfolio of Information and Broadcasting and has instead been allocated Urban Development, but he retains Culture. P.R. Dasmunshi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, has in addition been given Information and Broadcasting. Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises Minister Santosh Mohan Deb has been asked to look after Water Resources Ministry also. He is a Minister of State holding Independent charge. Ministries of Sports and Youth Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs have been given to Oscar Fernandes in addition to Statistics and Programme Implementation. He is also a Minister of State holding Independent charge.
Significantly, the Prime Minister will continue to hold charge of the Ministry of External Affairs, which was taken away from Natwar Singh recently. With this, the possibility of Natwar Singh getting back the Ministry, in case he is cleared by the inquiry authority probing the Volcker Affair, continues to be on the cards. Similarly, Dr. Manmohan Singh continues to retain charge of the Coal Ministry which may be allocated again to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Shibu Soren whenever he is reinducted in the Union Cabinet.
Reports say that Lalu Prasad Yadav held up a major reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers by insisting that the exercise should be undertaken only after the Bihar Assembly election results have been announced. He is reported to have made it clear to the top Congress leadership that he would not take kindly to a reshuffle at this stage. He said that as a major ally, his party, the RJD, should be part of the reallocation of portfolios with a decisive share in the Council of Ministers.
Earlier, it is learnt that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi had after days of consultations almost finalised the portfolios with Congress leaders being informed that final touches were being given for the reshuffle and expansion to be carried out on Nov. 18. This was cancelled suddenly after yet another meeting between the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi.
Reports say that Ambika Soni and Jairam Ramesh were almost certain to be brought into the Union Cabinet when the expansion plan was scuttled. Ambika Soni may have been given Information and Broadcasting.
The Cabinet expansion would have coincided with changes in the AICC set up and appointment of some partymen as Governors.
In the meantime, the Congress has dismissed suggestions that Jaipal Reddy was shifted from Information and Broadcasting as the Prime Minister was not happy with his performance. Party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi was reacting to reports in some newspapers to this effect. Observers also refuse to read too much into Jaipal Reddy losing the I & B portfolio. They point out that Urban Development that lends itself to a lot of scope for corruption would be well served by a clean person like Jaipal Reddy.
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