A reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers will take place at 5 pm on Monday. Government sources said Congress President Sonia Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning finalising the list of names.
The meeting came in the aftermath of the resignation of Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran and the offer of resignation by Corporate Affairs Minister Murli Deora, lending a sense of urgency to the ongoing exercise of restructuring of the Union Council of Ministers.
It also came even as Finance Minister and senior party leader Pranab Mukherjee met Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai and discussed the current political situation. It was not clear whether the DMK would be sending replacements for Maran and former Telecom Minister A Raja, who both had to quit on the 2G issue. “For the first time in two months, the DMK chief looked happy,” said a Congress source in Chennai.
After the meeting, Mukherjee said, “There’s a lot of speculation whether the alliance between the Congress and the DMK is continuing. My respectful submission is this alliance is there. The alliance will continue and it will be strengthened.”
There has been speculation for a long time about the Cabinet reshuffle and expansion. The prime minister himself had spoken about a “more expansive exercise” after he undertook a rejig of the Cabinet in January. In his recent interaction with senior editors, Singh had said the Cabinet reshuffle was a “work in progress”.
There are a number of vacancies in the Union Cabinet such as railways, following the resignation of Mamata Banerjee who became the chief minister of West Bengal, and textiles. There are also a number of ministers holding dual charge like Kapil Sibal, who has telecom and human resource development, and P K Bansal, who handles portfolios of science and technology, earth sciences and parliamentary affairs.
With Uttar Pradesh going to the polls next year, some ministers from the state are expected to be elevated. MP Raj Babbar could become a minister, and Minister of State for Steel (independent charge) Beni Prasad Verma could be elevated to Cabinet, keeping in mind the Assembly elections.
There is also a possibility that the prime minister may drop some ministers. Minister of Statistics M S Gill tops the list. His replacement could be a young MP from Punjab, which is also going to the polls next year. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia could be elevated.
In Chennai, Mukherjee parried a question whether he had discussed with Karunanidhi the issue of DMK giving names of its leaders to replace Maran and Raja.
Law minister M Veerappa Moily expressed confidence he would continue in the ministry. "Do you have any doubt about it," he told reporters when asked whether he would continue in the government after the proposed reshuffle. He said reshuffle was the prerogative of the prime minister and he had no comment on it. Meanwhile, Sibal met the prime minister today.
Sources in the Trinamool Congress confirmed Banerjee had forwarded two names for the Union Cabinet. They are Dinesh Trivedi for the Railways and Sudeep Bandopadhyaya for the post of minister of state for health that Trivedi will have to vacate.
Solicitor General tenders resignation
Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramaniam on Saturday tendered his resignation to Law Minister Veerappa Moily. His resignation has not been accepted yet. Although the government offered no reason for his resignation, it is believed conflict of interest issues in the legal handling of the 2G spectrum scam could have led to the move. Subramaniam had got a taste of the Supreme Court’s wrath over the Special Investigation Team (SIT) ordered by the court, although he had pleaded the court not to press for an SIT.
