Congress drubs PM's stand on future reshuffles

Says govt and sulking ministers have to work out the issues

sweta-ranjan

Sweta Ranjan | July 13, 2011




Warning: Duplicate entry 'variables' for key 1 query: INSERT INTO cache (cid, data, expire, created, headers, serialized) VALUES ('variables', 'a:2648:{s:13:"theme_default";s:13:"governancenow";s:13:"filter_html_1";i:1;s:18:"node_options_forum";a:1:{i:0;s:6:"status";}s:18:"drupal_private_key";s:64:"e6e80546cb3aadb3bdb0e09423bb85482fb02aea301775e5a29be051c9827ed4";s:10:"menu_masks";a:38:{i:0;i:127;i:1;i:126;i:2;i:125;i:3;i:124;i:4;i:122;i:5;i:118;i:6;i:117;i:7;i:92;i:8;i:63;i:9;i:62;i:10;i:61;i:11;i:60;i:12;i:59;i:13;i:58;i:14;i:57;i:15;i:56;i:16;i:46;i:17;i:45;i:18;i:31;i:19;i:30;i:20;i:29;i:21;i:28;i:22;i:24;i:23;i:23;i:24;i:22;i:25;i:21;i:26;i:15;i:27;i:14;i:28;i:13;i:29;i:11;i:30;i:10;i:31;i:7;i:32;i:6;i:33;i:5;i:34;i:4;i:35;i:3;i:36;i:2;i:37;i:1;}s:12:"install_task";s:4:"done";s:13:"menu_expanded";a:1:{i:0;s:24:"menu-create-content-menu";}s:9:&quo in /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 128

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 636

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 637

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 638

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/database.mysql.inc:128) in /home/govern/domains/governancenow.com/public_html/includes/bootstrap.inc on line 639

Congress on Wednesday brushed aside prime minister Manmohan Singh's cotention that there will be no further cabinet reshuffles from now to the general elections in 2014.

Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the prime minister actually meant that there would be "hopefully" be no "major reshuffle" exercises before the polls. With UPA partner DMK not accorded any berth in Tuesday's rejig, the prime minister had said that two berths had been kept vacant for filling up in the near future. But he had stated that there would be no further expanisons or reshuffle.

On the issue of the sulking ministers Srikant Jena, veerappa Moily and Gurudas Kamat (who resigned from his ministerial posts soon after the rejig was announced), Singhvi said that the portfolio distribution was the prime minister's prerogative and that it was upto the disgruntled individuals to sort their issues with the government.

He noted that various factors were considered before allocating ministries and not all of them were measurable or quantifiable.

Kamat, who was made the minister of state (independent charge) for drinking water and sanitation, quit yesterday, reportedly miffed at being passed over for cabinet appointment. Jena, who was a union cabinet minister in the United Front governments of 1996, was also unhappy with being kept a minister of state since 2009.

Moily, shifted from the law ministry to corporate affairs, saw himself more as a scapegoat for the "administrative ministries" and said as much.

Both Jena and he, however, attended the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday and said that they would discharge their duty in the best possible manner, reposing faith in the prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Asked to comment on the criticism from various quarters on the rejig being a damp squib, the Congress spokesperson said that it was not correct to deem a change in the weightier ministries, viz. finance, external affairs, home and defence alone as a "major exercise".
 

Comments

 

Other News

Elections 2024: 1,351 candidates in fray for Phase 3

As many as 1,351 candidates from 12 states /UTs are contesting elections in Phase 3 of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The number includes eight contesting candidates for the adjourned poll in 29-Betul (ST) PC of Madhya Pradesh. Additionally, one candidate from Surat PC in Gujarat has been elected unopp

2023-24 net direct tax collections exceed budget estimates by 7.40%

The provisional figures of direct tax collections for the financial year 2023-24 show that net collections are at Rs. 19.58 lakh crore, 17.70% more than Rs. 16.64 lakh crore in 2022-23. The Budget Estimates (BE) for Direct Tax revenue in the Union Budget for FY 2023-24 were fixed at Rs. 18.

‘World’s biggest festival of democracy’ begins

The much-awaited General Elections of 2024, billed as the world’s biggest festival of democracy, began on Friday with Phase 1 of polling in 102 Parliamentary Constituencies (the highest among all seven phases) in 21 States/ UTs and 92 Assembly Constituencies in the State Assembly Elections in Arunach

A sustainability warrior’s heartfelt stories of life’s fleeting moments

Fit In, Stand Out, Walk: Stories from a Pushed Away Hill By Shailini Sheth Amin Notion Press, Rs 399

What EU’s AI Act means for the world

The recent European Union (EU) policy on artificial intelligence (AI) will be a game-changer and likely to become the de-facto standard not only for the conduct of businesses but also for the way consumers think about AI tools. Governments across the globe have been grappling with the rapid rise of AI tool

Indian Railways celebrates 171 years of its pioneering journey

The Indian Railways is celebrating 171 glorious years of its existence. Going back in time, the first train in India (and Asia) ran between Mumbai and Thane on April 16, 1853. It was flagged off from Boribunder (where CSMT stands today). As the years passed, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway which ran the

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter