New Delhi, November 18
With the Cabinet expansion having been put on the back burner for the present, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today went in for a selective reshuffle of the portfolios of his ministers while retaining the charge of the External Affairs and the Coal Ministries with himself.

Even as Information and Broadcasting Minister S. Jaipal Reddy has been moved to the ministry of Urban Development along with Culture, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Santosh Mohan Dev has been asked to look after the critical Water Resources Ministry as well. Mr Dev is a Minister of State holding independent charge. Mr Jaipal Reddy has been desirous of a change for quite some time now.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been given to P.R. Dasmunshi who will also look after Parliamentary Affairs which will involve floor coordination and keeping the Congress-led UPA coalition partners together. Coming as it does barely a week before the winter session of Parliament, Mr Dasmunshi has a delicate task on his hand in keeping the disparate UPA flock together. He has stressed that all problems can be resolved through discussions with the coalition partners and the Left parties supporting the Manmohan Singh government from outside. Being an experienced hand in dealing with the Parliamentary Affairs and currently Chief Whip of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister zeroed in on Mr Dasmunshi.

Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs has been given to Oscar Fernandes in addition to Statistics and Programme Implementation. Mr Fernandes is also a Minister of State holding independent charge.

Having taken over recently as J and K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s erstwhile ministries of Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs have been split between Mr Jaipal Reddy and Mr Dasmunshi.

With the Prime Minister retaining charge of the External Affairs Ministry, it became apparent that Mr Natwar Singh might get back his most favoured portfolio if the two inquiries constituted by the government, including the Inquiry Authority headed by the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Mr Justice R.S. Pathak absolves him of any wrong doing in the UN’s oil for food scam in Iraq.

Similarly, the seat of the Coal Minister is also being kept hot for JMM’s Shibu Soren who has been anxiously waiting in the wings to return to the UPA government after the fiasco in Jharkhand.

It became evident last night that the Prime Minister has decided to go slow on the Cabinet expansion and first await the results of the just concluded Assembly elections in Bihar and fortify his government to brace the Opposition onslaught within Parliament and outside following the UN’s Paul Volcker Committee report on the oil for food scandal in Iraq. The Volcker Committee has named the Congress and minister without portfolio K. Natwar Singh as non-contractual beneficiaries in Iraq’s controversial oil for food programme.