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Cabinet rejig Anita Katyal Our Political Correspondent New Delhi, January 12 UPA sources said it will be difficult to move Mukherjee against his will given his seniority and the additional responsibilities he shoulders as Lok Sabha leader and as head of the innumerable groups of ministers set up by the government to handle ticklish issues. Moreover, the finance portfolio had been Mukherjee’s first choice when UPA II was formed in 2009. The Prime Minister, it is learnt, would like to shift Chidambaram from home to the Finance Ministry in view of the comfort level he enjoys with him.Besides, the two are also on the same page on issues like economic reforms and disinvestment. If Chidambaram does get back his old portfolio, Mukherjee could be moved to the Home Ministry. The senior leader had been tipped to head this Ministry in 2004 when the UPA I came to power but, in a last-minute decision, he was given the Defence Ministry. Although the rejig of the Cabinet has been long overdue, the exercise has acquired urgency as the UPA government battles a host of scams and runaway inflation, while a determined Opposition has launched an aggressive campaign against the ruling dispensation. Sources said Congress President Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister are learnt to have discussed the revamp plan last week but the exercise is still being given final touches. The PM, it is learnt, would like to bring in people of proven merit and drop those who have failed to deliver. However, he will be constrained in this effort as it will not be possible to overlook caste, regional and coalition compulsions. For instance, he may find it difficult to show the door to labour minister Mallikarjun Kharge as he is a senior Dalit leader from Karnataka, even though his performance is said to be below par. The DMK, which was deprived of the Telecom portfolio after A.Raja’s resignation, will have to be given another ministry. Kapil Sibal, who was given this ministry, is expected to retain this charge since he was brought in specifically to handle the fall-out of the 2G spectrum controversy. Sibal also holds the Human Resource Development Ministry and the science and technology portfolio which was given to him as an additional charge after Prithviraj Chavan was made Maharashtra Chief Minister. Speculation is that Sibal will have to forgo the HRD minsitry which could go to law minister Veerappa Moily. The PM is also looking for a replacement for Shashi Tharoor, who was minister of state in the External Affairs Ministry while Prithviraj Chavan’s charge in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has still not been given to anybody.Given the troubles faced by the Congress in Andhra Pradesh on Telangana and the Jaganmohan Reddy factor, there is talk that MPs from the Telngana region may be inducted into the Cabinet in an effort to mollify them. There is growing pressures from a section in the party that Rahul Gandhi be given a ministerial berth but the Nehru-Gandhi scion has preferred to work in the party organisation. Since NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who holds the agriculture and food portfolios, has said he would like to forgo one charge, the PM will have to take a call on this offer. If the ministries are split, it will result in fresh trouble as the Congress and the NCP will lay claim on the ministry Pawar forgoes. Besides the Cabinet reshuffle, a revamp of the AICC organisation is also overdue. The Congress Working Committee has to be reconstituted while several general secretaries (Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, V.Narayanswamy) hold positions in the party and the government. Here, Sonia Gandhi has to decide whether she would like to enforce the “one man, one post” principle although Azad is tipped to return to the party set-up.
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