New Delhi: Triggering speculation of an imminent cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday, party sources said. It was their third meeting in three weeks. “The reshuffle appears to be next week, maybe as early as Monday,” a Congress leader said. The two leaders are learnt to have a detailed discussion on the reshuffle at Saturday’s meeting, he added. With Dayanidhi Maran resigning on Thursday as Textiles minister, some induction of new faces and shuffling about of the portfolios has become necessary, party sources said.
The meeting came on a day when senior party leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee met DMK chief M Karunanidhi in Chennai.
While it was not clear whether the DMK would ask the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leadership not to induct new ministers in place of its nominees Andimuthu Raja and Dayanidhi Maran who have resigned, Mukherjee in Chennai dispelled all speculation over the DMK’s continuance in the ruling alliance.
“The alliance (between DMK and the UPA) is there, it will be there and it will be strengthened,” Mukherjee told reporters after his meeting with Karunanidhi.
In his interaction with a group of editors on June 29, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had said that the reshuffle was a “work in progress”.
Besides the vacancy caused by Maran’s recent exit, there is also one following Mamata Banerjee’s resignation from the Railways when she took over as the Chief Minister of West Bengal in May.
Corporate Affairs Minister Murli Deora told media on July 5 that he has offered to resign and that he has already communicated this to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Though Deora cited personal reasons of “health and old age” for his offer to quit, political circles link it to the controversies related to the petroleum ministry, which Deora held earlier. These controversies have been mentioned in the recent draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Enabling the government to effect the reshuffle any time now, President Pratibha Patil returned to New Delhi Friday after a week-long stay in Andhra Pradesh.
Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal are holding additional charges of two ministers — A Raja and Prithviraj Chavan respectively — who resigned in the recent past.
While Raja was jailed, facing charges of involvement in the 2G spectrum scam, Chavan was shifted to Maharashtra as Chief Minister, to replace Ashok Chavan who resigned over the Adarsh Housing Society scandal. (IANS)