So who will fill the blanks in the cabinet?
27 Oct 2012 6:52 AM IST
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday undertook the daunting task of giving final shape to the much-awaited reshuffle in the union cabinet scheduled for Sunday morning. Their job, however, was made difficult with Foreign Minister SM Krishna putting in his papers ahead of the Sonia-Manmohan meeting.
With an eye on polls in Karnataka and with the BJP in a beleaguered situation with former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa deciding to walk out of the party, the 80-year-old Congress veteran Krishna wants to have a last shot at state politics before he walks into the sunset.
According to sources, the Sonia-Manmohan meeting discussed in detail who could be given charge of the foreign office. Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma aggressively pushed their cases. However, sources indicated that the Prime Minister was keen to have Rahul Gandhi replace Krishna in the Ministry for External Affairs (MEA).
Krishna’s resignation was accepted by the Prime Minister before he met Congress president in the evening. However, it was decided to leave it to Gandhi to take a call on joining the cabinet, though the Prime Minister did say that younger people should join the government.
By the time the Sonia-Manmohan meeting ended three more ministers – Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik and Mahadev Singh Khandela put in their papers. Khandela is a Jat leader from Rajasthan and in all possibility would be replaced by Jyoti Mirdha, the grand-daughter of late Jat patriarch Nathuram Mirdha. Soni and Wasnik are all set to be drafted for party work ahead of the 2014 polls.
With four putting in papers on Friday and 12 vacancies already existing, the total number of new faces which could be inducted could be as high as 16, sources added. Vacancies could go up further if Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaisawal, who have come under attack from the Opposition on the coal block allocation issue, are shown the exit door. In the case of Sahai being made to quit, he could be replaced by Jharkhand Congress chief Pradeep Balmuchu.
Among the probables for induction are Chiranjeevi, whose 18 MLAs provide stability to the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh after the merger of his party. From West Bengal, where ally Trinamool Congress has quit the UPA, Congress MPs A H Khan Chowdhury, brother of late Ghani Khan Chowdhury, PCC President Pradeep Bhattacharya and former union minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi’s wife Deepa Dasmunsi are among those being considered for induction.
With an eye on polls in Karnataka and with the BJP in a beleaguered situation with former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa deciding to walk out of the party, the 80-year-old Congress veteran Krishna wants to have a last shot at state politics before he walks into the sunset.
According to sources, the Sonia-Manmohan meeting discussed in detail who could be given charge of the foreign office. Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma aggressively pushed their cases. However, sources indicated that the Prime Minister was keen to have Rahul Gandhi replace Krishna in the Ministry for External Affairs (MEA).
Krishna’s resignation was accepted by the Prime Minister before he met Congress president in the evening. However, it was decided to leave it to Gandhi to take a call on joining the cabinet, though the Prime Minister did say that younger people should join the government.
By the time the Sonia-Manmohan meeting ended three more ministers – Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik and Mahadev Singh Khandela put in their papers. Khandela is a Jat leader from Rajasthan and in all possibility would be replaced by Jyoti Mirdha, the grand-daughter of late Jat patriarch Nathuram Mirdha. Soni and Wasnik are all set to be drafted for party work ahead of the 2014 polls.
With four putting in papers on Friday and 12 vacancies already existing, the total number of new faces which could be inducted could be as high as 16, sources added. Vacancies could go up further if Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaisawal, who have come under attack from the Opposition on the coal block allocation issue, are shown the exit door. In the case of Sahai being made to quit, he could be replaced by Jharkhand Congress chief Pradeep Balmuchu.
Among the probables for induction are Chiranjeevi, whose 18 MLAs provide stability to the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh after the merger of his party. From West Bengal, where ally Trinamool Congress has quit the UPA, Congress MPs A H Khan Chowdhury, brother of late Ghani Khan Chowdhury, PCC President Pradeep Bhattacharya and former union minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi’s wife Deepa Dasmunsi are among those being considered for induction.
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