In the much-talked-about Cabinet revamp, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expanded his team by inducting 17 new faces and reshuffled the portfolios of some ministers.
The mega Cabinet rejig is seen as the UPA’s move to give governance a fresh impetus ahead of the 2014 general elections.
States such as Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal received more prominence in the reshuffle, in which 22 ministers — seven Cabinet, two ministers of state with independent charge and 13 ministers of state — were inducted into the Cabinet.
Expectations that Rahul Gandhi would join the Cabinet on Sunday were belied as the Nehru-Gandhi family scion is likely to take up a larger organisational role in the Congress party soon.
Salman Khurshid has been appointed the External Affairs Minister. M. Veerappa Moily is the new Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, replacing S. Jaipal Reddy, who has been shifted to the Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Ministry.
Those elevated to Cabinet rank include Dinsha Patel, Ajay Maken, Ashwani Kumar, M.M. Pallam Raju and Harish Rawat. K.Rehman Khan and Chandresh Kumari Katoch are the new entrants.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari has been inducted as Minister of State with independent charge for Information and Broadcasting.
Actor-turned-politician K. Chiranjeevi has been made Minister of State for Tourism (independent charge). Chiranjeevi’s induction may improve Congress' prospects in Andhra Pradesh, where the party faces stiff challenge from Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSR Congress. Including Chiranjeevi, five new faces from Andhra Pradesh were inducted into the council of ministers.
Shashi Tharoor has made a comeback into the ministerial council after almost two years and will take over as Minister of State for Human Resource Development.
Youth and experience
“It is a combination of youth, experience and relevance to the portfolios that have been entrusted to the minister,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh post-Cabinet expansion, expressing confidence that the new team would be able to meet the challenges ahead.
The Prime Minister also ruled out early elections and said polls would be held on time.
Despite some new faces, critics said Rahul Gandhi’s youth brigade is largely missing in the expanded Cabinet. However, the berths of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot have been upgraded as Minister of State with independent charge and they have been assigned key ministries — Power and Corporate Affairs respectively.
Pawan Kumar Bansal is the new Railway Minister, while Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has been given additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs Ministry in the reshuffle — expected to be the last one ahead of the 2014 elections.
In the past couple of days, S.M.Krishna, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Subodhkant Sahay, Mahadeo Singh Khandela and Vincent Pala had resigned from the Council of Ministers ahead of reshuffle.
The Opposition dubbed the revamp as a lacklustre exercise and stated that it will do little to change the Government’s image.
However, industry seems to be pleased with the combination of young and experienced faces in the expanded team.
“The reshuffle has ensured that there is a fair mix of youth and experience in the Cabinet. India’s demographics are starting to get reflected in the political leadership of the country, which is only natural,” said Chandrajit Banerjee, Director-General, CII, adding that the apex industry body hopes to work closely with the new Ministers.
“Induction of young faces in the Cabinet has indeed given new hope as it would strengthen the image of the Government...” said D.S. Rawat, Secretary-General, Assocham.