Need for Cabinet expansion: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said there was a need for expansion of the Cabinet but was non-committal on whether it would take place before the Congress plenary, slated later this month.

"There should be some expansion. There is a need for Cabinet expansion," he told reporters after releasing two volumes of Premchand's works.

He, however, did not say when that would take place. "I cannot say," was his reply to the question whether it would take place before the Congress plenary.

There is intense speculation that the much talked-about exercise to fill a number of vacancies in the council of ministers will be carried out after January 14 or after the plenary session scheduled in Hyderabad from January 21 to 23.

The prime minister's earlier attempts to expand his council of ministers apparently hit roadblocks with the entire 2005 turning out to be a "dry patch" for the hopefuls.

Congress circles expect that the exercise will be mainly restricted to the party leading the coalition at the Centre and there are some compelling reasons for that.

There is only one minister, Shakil Ahmed, belonging to the Muslim community of the Congress after the shifting of Ghulam Nabi Azad to Jammu and Kashmir as chief minister and the death of PM Sayeed last month.

There is speculation that Rahul Gandhi would either be made an AICC general secretary or a minister at the Centre.

The vacancies mainly belonging to the Congress has arose due to death of Sunil Dutt and resignation of Jagdish Tytler in the wake of the Nanavati Commission report on the anti-Sikh riots and shifting of K Rahman Khan as deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha.

JMM chief Shibu Soren, who is out of the Cabinet for over a year, is also making efforts to gain re-entry.