After newly assuming office as the cabinet ministers, the newest squad of Prime Ministers get busy with the new assignments while the espoused ministers renounced their responsibilities shortly after the cabinet reshuffle which could most likely be the last one before the general elections in 2014. The mega changes included almost 17 new faces while several other ministers moved to different positions.
Salman Khurshid was promoted as the Foreign minister, coming as a strong blow to Arvind Kejriwal's allegations of his embezzlement of funds. Veerappa Moily has been promoted to be the new petroleum minister. The reins of the railway ministry are now at the helm of Pawan Kumar Bansal while MM Pallam Raju has been made the HRD minister.
S Jaipal Reddy is the Science and Technology guy while Kamal Nath had been given the extra responsibility of parliamentary affairs that added to the urban development position that he already held.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari who got independent charge of information and broadcasting among the ministers of the state who sworn in. The major action in the congress comes just before the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Manmohan Singh called the reshuffle a perfect balance of fresh inductees and experienced ministers on the ceremony which was held at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan while the oath was administered by Pranab Mukherjee. "It is a combination of youth and experience," the prime minister said.
He added that the future held a lot of challenges for them.
As expected earlier among several rumors that Rahul Gandhi may join the government, Rahul Gandhi decided to play a bigger role in the party.
Only two of the new inductees (17) held a cabinet rank. And of the seven new ministers who had a cabinet rank, it was the first time cabinet ministry for former Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson K. Rahman Khan and Congress MP Chandresh Kumari Katoch. The remaining ministers were Ajay Maken, M.M. Pallam Raju, Dinsha Patel, Harish Rawat and Ashwini Kumar who now hold a cabinet rank.
(AW- Anil)
