Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would soon reallocate work in the finance ministry to the two ministers of state (MoS) for the period he holds the finance ministry portfolio. A full-time minister is likely to be appointed before the 2012 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Tokyo during October 12-14.
Currently, S S Palanim-anickam is MoS in charge of revenue and Namo Narain Meena is MoS in charge of expenditure, banking and insurance.
The prime minister is likely to look after the key functions in the ministry and distribute the rest between Palanim-anickam and Narain in a day or two, said an official in the know.
| PM'S FINANCE MINISTRY PLANS |
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The joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office in charge of finance, B V R Subrahmanyam, would play the role of coordinating between the finance ministry and the prime minister. Subrahmanyam, a 1987 batch Indian Administrative Service officer, was the prime minister’s private secretary during the United Progressive Alliance government’s first term, and enjoys Singh’s trust.
The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman, C Rangarajan, would play a crucial role in devising policy measures as long as Singh holds charge of the finance ministry.
The groups of ministers (GoMs) chaired by Pranab Mukherjee are being restructured. The process is expected to be completed soon, with senior Cabinet ministers heading the GoMs and the empowered groups of ministers, said the official.
Officials privy to the developments said the prime minister did not favour holding charge of the finance portfolio for long, primarily because of the meetings a finance minister had to attend, both nationally, as well as in other countries. He added the next important global meeting in which the finance minister would have to be present was the IMF and World Bank annual meeting in October, and a new finance minister was likely to be announced before that.
The annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, usually held during September-October, have customarily been held in Washington for consecutive years and in another member-country in the third year. The meetings are attended by finance ministers, central bank governors and other officials of member countries.
As Home Minister P Chid-ambaram is the front-runner for the finance minister’s post, it is expected court cases involving him would be cleared by that time, as this would facilitate the shift. The whole exercise is likely to be part of a larger Cabinet reshuffle after the monsoon session, in the backdrop of new political equations emerging out of the elections for the president’s and vice-president’s posts.
