M A I N   N E W S

PM to reshuffle Cabinet today
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

On the agenda

n No change likely in four key portfolios — Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs n Dineshbhai Trivedi of Trinamool Congess may get Railways n Corporate Affairs Minister Murli Deora may be dropped n Sibal and Pawan Bansal may have to shed one of their portfolios

New Delhi, July 11
In what is seen as an image-makeover exercise, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undertake a reshuffle of his Council of Ministers tomorrow.

The reshuffle-cum-expansion of the more than two-year-old UPA ministry will take place at 5 pm at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, a spokesman for the President’s office said.

Indications are that it will be a modest exercise in which some new faces will be inducted, a few ministers will be elevated and some will see change in their portfolios. However, a few ministers can be dropped as well.

The PM today met Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the fourth time in the past few days to give final touches to the changes to be affected in the government, whose image has taken a beating in recent months in the wake of a series of scandals.

While no change is expected in four key portfolios --- Home, Finance, Defence and External Affairs, the Railways Ministry can get a Cabinet minister. The name of Trinamool Congress leader and Minister of State Dineshbhai Trivedi is doing rounds for this important portfolio, which was earlier held by Mamata Banerjee, who is now the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

With the Assembly elections round the corner in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress leadership is believed to have recommended the elevation of Beni Prasad Verma, currently the Minister of State for Steel (Independent charge), to the Cabinet rank.

The Textiles Ministry may also get a new Cabinet Minister. DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran resigned as the Textiles Minister last week after he was implicated by the CBI in the 2G spectrum scam. Earlier in November last year, his party colleague A Raja had to quit after the CBI chargesheeted him in the same scandal. It is still not known if tomorrow’s expansion will see any DMK nominee being inducted into the Council of Ministers.

HRD and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Parliamentary Affairs and Science and Technology Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal may have to shed one of their respective portfolios.

There is a question mark on the fate of Statistics and Programe Implementation Minister MS Gill and Minister of State BK Handique. Tribal Affairs Minister Kanti Lal Bhuria, who has been named the Madhya Pradesh Congress president, may be asked to devote his full energy to the party work. Corporate Affairs Minister Murli Deora, who has already expressed his desire to quit the government, may be dropped.

Deora’s son Milind, a second-time MP, has a fair chance of earning a berth in the ministry while young ministers like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada can be elevated. Gurudas Kamat, Minister of State for Home, can be shifted to some other ministry with Independent charge.

There is expectation that Andhra Pradesh, which has only one representative in the Cabinet, can see more MPs getting into the ministry. Chhattisgarh, Goa and Manipur may also get representation.