Reshuffle of Council of Ministers this week?

January 17, 2011 07:29 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 03:34 am IST - New Delhi

A 45-minute meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil on Monday evening triggered speculation that the former was set to reshuffle his Council of Ministers later this week. Government sources, however, said the top four portfolios — Finance, Home, Defence and External Affairs — are unlikely to be touched.

But while conjecture in political circles was rife that Dr. Singh briefed Ms. Patil on the changes he wished to make in the government, an official press release from Rashtrapati Bhavan was silent on this aspect. The two leaders, the release said, discussed the coming budget session of Parliament as well as “the current economic situation, including price rise, internal security and other issues of national and international importance.”

Meanwhile, political sources stressed that the proposed changes in government were linked either to political compulsions — sending out the right signal to election-bound Uttar Pradesh, or to the politically divided Andhra Pradesh, for instance — or to ensure that the government's capacity to deal with a difficult Opposition was increased by strengthening the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, or axing some deadwood, or dropping some Ministers to send out the message that there was going to be zero tolerance for corruption.

Filling vacancies

Finally, the reshuffle will also be used to fill the vacancies created by Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan becoming Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the exit of Telecom Minister A. Raja and Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, and perhaps to divest Cabinet Ministers holding more than one portfolio of one of their charges. For instance, while Kapil Sibal will in all likelihood continue to hold the telecom portfolio, there is the possibility that the Human Resource Development Ministry may be taken away from him, as both these Ministries are full-time jobs. While Mr. Sibal, it is learnt, is keen to retain HRD in which he has invested time and energy, the leadership is believed to be very pleased with the way he has been handling the Telecom Ministry, which needs special care. He is also holding the Science and Technology portfolio, which is likely to go to a new entrant.

Monday's meeting between the Prime Minister and the President follows a series of meetings Dr. Singh has had in recent days with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on changes both in the government and the party, especially reconstituting the Congress Working Committee (CWC). A senior party functionary said changes in the party were also expected around the same time as those in the government.

The sources said that with elections due in Uttar Pradesh, it was likely that a Minister of State from U.P. — possibly Minority Affairs and Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid or even Coal Minister Shriprakash Jaiswal — could get Cabinet status, and that two new Ministers of State from Andhra Pradesh, one from Telangana and the other from coastal Andhra, could find berths.

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