Manmohan inducts eight veterans in cabinet

New Delhi: In perhaps the last reshuffle and expansion of the Union Council of Ministers, Mallikarjun Kharge was on Monday made the Railways Minister as eight more were inducted with veterans Sis Ram Ola and Oscar Fernandes making a comeback. After yesterday’s reshuffle in the party, senior woman leader from election-bound Rajasthan Girija Vyas and K S Rao from Andhra Pradesh were brought in as Cabinet Ministers in today’s exercise which was an all-Congress affair. Three new faces — Santosh Chowdhury, J D Seelam and E N S Nachiappan were made Ministers of State along with veteran Maharashtra leader Manikrao Gavit. With the fresh inductions, the strength of the Union Council of Ministers has gone up to 77.