Manmohan Singh reshuffles cabinet deck

Manmohan Singh reshuffles cabinet deck

After much deliberation over expansion and six instances of delay later, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finally compromised for reshuffling his deck of cabinet ministers yesterday, just pre-ceding the winter session of Parliament set to begin in 5 days. With the session expected to have its share of flared moments, the neutral movement of ministers across portfolios is seen as a temporary, stabilizing stance to rein in any flak which the UPA government is likely to face.

The decision has, of course, the absolute support and push from Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and is a camouflaged method to manage the egos of ministers so as to stall separation woes which could fuel into retaliation. The uncertainty of the Bihar elections' outcome and the possibility of Ram Vilas Paswan combining forces with the NDA to counter a hung assembly, and therefore being ousted from the UPA, has been the other major factor in the temporary stance on minister portfolios.

Moreover, the issue of Iran and the dust raised by leftists has persuaded the Prime Minister that it is best to not expand right now. The re-allocation is also an attempt to equalize work load amongst the ministers, sources say.

The major and expected change of hands was of the external affairs portfolio adopted by the PM since it had been orphaned in the wake of the Volcker-Natwar controversy.

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Earlier, Jawaharlal Nehru set a precedent in retaining the foreign affairs portfolio, as also PV Narasimha Rao did once temporarily. Though such a situation does raise issues of diplomatic protocol, it is reported that those problems have been resolved. Manmohan Singh's charge of foreign affairs is crucial keeping in mind the forthcoming Iran vote, the nuclear pact talks with the US and the Bush itinerary in February 2006.

Incidentally, the coal ministry has also been in the PM's hands since JMM's Shibhu Soren renounced it in lieu of being Chief Minister of Jharkhand in February this year.

Mr. P R Dasmunshi was given responsibility of Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs, the latter previously with Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad before he became CM of J&K on Nov2.
The erstwhile I&B minister Jaipal Reddy has Urban Development and Culture in his fold now. His ouster from I&B had been on the anvil in the recent past, though party representative Abhishek Singhvi discounted rumours that this was because the Prime Minister was unhappy with his record there.

Water Resources was additionally handed over to Mr. Santosh Mohan Deb, apart from his current responsibility of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.

With Statistics and Programme Implementation, Mr. Oscar Fernandes will now also look after Sports and Youth Affairs which was headless since Sunil Dutt's demise in May this year. In addition, Overseas Indian Affairs will also be his responsibility now. The Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry had been practically half-run ever since Mr. Jagdish Tytler relinquished it after being implicated negatively in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in the Justice Nanavati Commission report.

From what sources say, it seems expansion of the cabinet will be happening now only post-Assembly elections in Bihar. Moreover, the AICC meeting in Hyderabad in January next year will be the right time since it will give Congress leaders time to induct other aspiring and dissatisfied candidates into the party or in other positions.