NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday expanded his council of ministers and reshuffled portfolios of several ministers in his bid to revamp the government, give it a new image and youthful look.
A total of 22 ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy, including 17 first-timers, by President Pranab Mukherjee at a glittering ceremony held in the Ashoka Hall of the President’s House.
“It is a combination of youth and experience,” the Indian premier said after the swearing-in ceremony, adding that he hoped it was the last reshuffle before the 2014 general elections.
With yesterday’s expansion cum reshuffle, the total strength of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has gone up to 79, 69 of which belong to the Congress party after the Trinamool Congress, which had six ministers, pulled out of the UPA last month and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam refused to nominate anyone to fill two vacancies created after A. Raja and Dayanidhi Maran were forced to resign over graft charges.
Prime Minister Singh, who completed 80 last month, becomes the oldest of the lot after the resignation of S.M. Krishna, who was a few months older to him, while Sachin Pilot, 35, becomes the youngest in the council of ministers, replacing Agatha Sangma, 32, who resigned on Saturday after being asked to put in her papers.
Ajay Maken, who was promoted as a cabinet minister, becomes the youngest cabinet minister at 48.
Salman Khurshid became the biggest gainer after he was allocated the prized Ministry of External Affairs.
The stamp of the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who refused Singh’s invitation to become a minister, was clearly seen as the exercise is being seen an attempt to put in place Team 2014 when young Gandhi is expected to be projected as the Congress party’s prime ministerial candidate.
Of the 22 leaders who were sworn in yesterday, seven are with cabinet ranks, two are ministers of state with independence charge and the rest ministers of state.
Among the seven new cabinet rank ministers, two are debutants — former deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha K. Rehman Khan and Congress MP from Rajasthan Chandresh Kumari Katoch. The other five, namely Ajay Maken, M.M. Pallam Raju, Dinsha Patel, Harish Rawat and Ashwani Kumar were all junior ministers who have been promoted.
Congress party spokesman Manish Tewari and Telugu movie superstar K. Chiranjeevi are the new ministers of state with independent charge. While Tiwari gets Information and Broadcasting, Chiranjeevi will take care of the Tourism Ministry.
Three junior ministers seen as an integral part of Rahul Gandhi’s Team 2014 — Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and Jitendra Singh — have been elevated and given independent charges of power, corporate affairs and youth and sports ministries respectively. R.P.N. Singh, another close associate of Rahul Gandhi, continues to be a junior minister but he has been shifted to the key Home Ministry.
The Congress party reclaimed the lucrative Railways Ministry after a gap of 17 years after Trinamool Congress’ pull out. Pawan Kumar Bansal has been shifted from Parliamentary Affairs to Railways with Parliamentary Affairs going to Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath as an additional portfolio.
Geographically, the focus was on two states, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. While six of the new ministers inducted belong to Andhra Pradesh, three — all junior ministers — belong to West Bengal. The Congress party has been in the doldrums in both states for different reasons. While the movement for a separate Telangana state has weakened the party in its stronghold Andhra, Congress has to carve out its independent identity in West Bengal after Trinamool Congress snapped ties with it.
The Nationalist Congress Party general secretary Tariq Anwar was the only new entrant from the ranks of the allies as he replaced Agatha Sangma as a junior minister. TariqAnwar is a senior leader who could not get a cabinet rank due to the quota fixed for the Nationalist Congress Party. His party’s wish to save him the agony of working under a junior was granted as he becomes the new Minister of State for Agriculture, the portfolio held by the NCP president Sharad Pawar.
Thiruvanthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor made a comeback as a junior minister after being forced to quit following allegations of his role in allocation of sweepstakes to his now wife Sunanda Pushkar in an IPL cricket team. He has become junior minister in the Human Resource Development Ministry while Pallam Raju is the cabinet minister.
The losers in a way are two senior ministers after the reshuffle. Kapil Sibal had to shed theHuman Resource Ministry and will now be in- harge only of Telecom and Information Technology, S. Jaipal Reddy has been shifted away from Petroleum to a less fancied Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.
Ashwani Kumar, who was promoted as a cabinet minister, becomes the new Law Minister while M. Veerappa Moily was given charge of petroleum.
The five new ministers belonging to Andhra Pradesh include Chiranjeevi, Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy, Sarve Satyanarayana, Porika Balram Naik and Killi Kruparani.
