M A I N   N E W S

PM expands Ministry
Nitish reinducted; Dhindsa gets Mines also
Tribune News Service and agencies

NEW DELHI, May 27 — The seven-month-old Vajpayee government was expanded today for the second time with Mr Nitish Kumar of the Samata Party being reinducted into the Union Cabinet as Agriculture Minister while the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) got its two representatives inducted.

The three new ministers, including, two of Cabinet rank, were sworn in by the President, Mr K. R. Narayanan, at a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Ashoka Hall this morning.

Contrary to expectation the expansion was limited to filling up of vacancies in the Union Council of Ministers following the resignations of Mr Nitish Kumar, Mr Naveen Patnaik of the BJD, Ms Uma Bharati and Mr Dilip Ray.

Mr Patnaik’s replacement in the Cabinet will be his parliamentary party leader Arjun Charan Sethi, who will look after the Water Resources while Mr Braj Kishore Tripathi, also of the BJD, will replace Mr Ray who was advised to resign as the Minister of Steel (Independent Charge). Mr Ray’s resignation has been accepted by the President today.

Mr Vajpayee also effected some changes in portfolios and clubbing of a few. Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa will now be full-fledged Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports with the additional charge of the Ministry of Mines. He will be assisted by the Minister of State Mr Shahnawaz Hussein, who has swapped portfolios with Mr Chaoba Singh, who will now look after the Department of Food Processing.

Sources in the government said Mr Dhindsa was informed in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday evening, where he had gone, of the change in the portfolio.

Dr C.P. Thakur has been shifted from the Water Resources Ministry to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare while Mr Anant Kumar gets Tourism and Culture, which was being held by Ms Bharati.

Mr Jagmohan gets Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, which was with Mr Dhindsa. Mr Shanmugham who was the Health Minister, would now be the Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal.

In a reshuffle at the ministers of state-level, Prof Rita Verma has been shifted to Health and Family Welfare from Mines and Minerals. 

Mr Jaisingrao Gaikwad Patil will now hold the portfolio of Mines instead of Human Resource Development. Mr Hukumdeo Narayan will hold the portfolio of Surface Transport instead of Agriculture which goes to Dr Debendra Pradhan. With the expansion the strength of the Council of Ministers becomes 73 including the Prime Minister, with 29 Cabinet ministers, 6 ministers with independent charge and the rest ministers of state.

Later speaking to correspondents, Mr Vajpayee said there was no scope for further expansion in the near future and said there was no particular reason for not inducting any one from the BJP.

To a question as to why the slot vacated by Ms Bharati was not filled up by a party nominee, Mr Vajpayee said the department held by her was merged with another ministry for better functioning.

Asked as to why no woman was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers, he said this depended on what the constituents of NDA suggested.

On Sri Lanka, Mr Vajpayee reiterated that no formal request had been received from Colombo for humanitarian assistance.

About the prospects of resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, he made it clear that Islamabad had to create the “right atmosphere” for any meaningful talks.

New Delhi has maintained that Pakistan has to stop sponsoring cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country and cease hostile propaganda against India for resumption of talks.

Meanwhile, on the dropping of Minister of State for Steel Dilip Ray, BJD leader and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Mr Ray resigned because of “some personal problem” but did not elaborate. He parried a question whether Mr Ray had any problem with him.

On the induction of Mr Arjun Charan Sethi and Mr Braja Kishore Tripathy from his party in the Vajpayee ministry, Mr Patnaik said “although they are fresh faces, I am confident they will do well”.