12 new Ministers, more after budget session
by Gyanendra Kumar Keshri

     New Delhi: In the much-awaited reshuffle, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday inducted 12 new faces in his cabinet keeping External Affairs Ministry with himself and indicated that there might be another cabinet expansion after the budget session. Talking to reporters after the swearing-in ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan he said that there was always a possibility of expansion. "In due course of time, we will have one," said Dr Singh in reply to a question as to when a full-fledged External Affairs Minister will be appointed. However, DR Singh emphasised that he was not overburdened by taking over the additional responsibility of External Affairs Ministry after the resignation of K Natwar Singh over Volcker controversy. According to PMO sources a minor expansion in the cabinet will take place after the budget session of the Parliament to fill in some of the gaps.

    Sources said though the Prime Minister had proposed a full time foreign minister, Congress President Sonia Gandhi felt the time was not right for a change of guard just before the visit of US President George W Bush. Veteran Congress leader Karan Singh was considered a front-runner for the External Affairs Ministry. The PM will be assisted by Anand Sharma, the new Minister of State for External Affairs. On today's expansion exercise, DR Singh said that the exercise was aimed to ensure proper regional representation giving importance to young and talented people.

     Without making any changes in the key portfolios of Finance, Home and Defence, the Prime Minister inducted 12 new faces in his 20- month old cabinet at the level of Ministers of State. A total of 22 ministers including 10 as Cabinet Ministers, 11 as Ministers of State and one Minister of State Independent charge were sworn in by President A P J Abdul Kalam at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition L K Advani, Cabinet Ministers and a number of other dignitaries. Mani Shankar Aiyar was stripped of Petroleum Ministry and is now left with Panchayati Raj and gets Sports and Youth Affairs, held by Sunil Dutt till last summer. Significant among the new entrants in an exercise which was Congress-specific, barring two, are Murli Deora who gets Petroleum. Former Maharashtra Chief Ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde, who resigned as Andhra Pradesh Governor, gets Power, held by P M Sayeed who died recently while A R Antulay has been inducted in the cabinet as Minority Affairs. Kerala got representation in the Cabinet after a long time with the entry of Rajya Sabha member Vayalar Ravi who gets Overseas Indian Affairs portfolio till now held by Oscar Fernandes. Delhi MP Ajay Maken has been inducted as Minister of State for Urban Development. Ambika Soni, Congress general secretary gets Tourism and Culture, Saifuddin Soz, RS member from Jammu and Kashmir is to head Water Resources. Santosh Mohan Dev, who is now Minister for Heavy Industries is elevated to Cabinet rank with the same portfolio. RJD`s P C Gupta is also promoted to Cabinet rank with his Company Affairs portfolio. JMM leader Shibu Soren makes a re-entry as Coal Minister.

    The new Ministers of State are: Pawan Kumar Bansal (Finance), Anand Sharma (External Affairs), Ajay Maken (Urban Development), M M Pallam Raju (Defence), Chandrasekhar Sahu (Labour), Akhilesh Das (Steel), Ashwani Kumar (Industries), D Purandareshwari (HRD), E V K S Elangovan (Textiles), Rao Inderjit Singh (Defence), Kanti Singh (Heavy Industries), B K Handique (Chemicals and Fertilisers and Parliamentary Affairs). In addition to these, there are three ministers of state without portfolio. They are: Dinshaw Patel, T Subbirami Reddy and Jairam Ramesh. Renuka Chowdhary loses her Tourism portfolio and becomes MoS with Independent charge for Women and Child Welfare.

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