Congress in no hurry for a Cabinet reshuffle

Despite as many as nine Congress ministers in the UPA government handling organisational responsibilities, there may not be a Cabinet reshuffle immediately.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi are likely to take some more time before giving the central government a new look, say party leaders.

"Contrary to speculation, there may not be a Cabinet reshuffle. There are some problems," said a top Congress leader.

Sources in the Congress indicated that if the reshuffle was put on hold, there could be some change in portfolios. The buzz is that Valayar Ravi, handling overseas Indian affairs, will get the additional responsibility of parliamentary affairs as Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and Suresh Pachauri, in charge of parliamentary affairs, have been given state responsibilities.

Sources say there are procedural hitches in the way of the reshuffle, which will be the final one before the Lok Sabha polls, due next year.

The Budget session starts in ten days and the leadership generally avoids changing ministers before Budget sessions. And once the session starts, there can't be any change till the recess.

The leadership might also keep in mind the Rajya Sabha vacancies in the next few months. Nine ministers from the Rajya Sabha will have to seek re-election as their terms end in the next few months.

While the Congress will surely renew the terms of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Prithviraj Chavan, re-election of Pachauri may be difficult as the party is struggling to get the requisite numbers in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.

T Subbirami Reddy (Mines), Saifuddin Soz (Water Resources), GK Vasan (Statistics and Programme Implementation), MV Rajasekharan (Planning), Akhilesh Das (Minister of State for Steel) will face elections to the upper house in April. The terms of Treasurer Motilal Vora, Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha, Prema Cariappa, and senior leader Janardhan Poojary are also coming to an end.

Yesterday, three ministers, Dasmunsi, Saifuddin Soz and Pachauri, were given charge of West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. Last September, as many as six ministers were given organisational responsibilities.