The Congress was left with a sour aftertaste of Tuesday's cabinet reshuffle after senior leader Gurudas Kamat resigned from the union council of ministers hours after the announcement of his new appointment was made. Miffed over being passed over in the rejig, Kamat asked to be relieved of his ministerial duties so that he could work as an "active party worker."

The Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai's north-west constituency was promoted from his previous position as minister of sate for home affairs and minister of state for communication and IT as a minister of state (independent charge) for the newly created drinking water and sanitation portfolio. Sources say, Kamat, however, perceived this as a slight as he had made his interest in being assigned a cabinet position or a weightier independent charge like power or civil aviation known to the party leadership earlier.

He is learned to have declined the position officially and have left for Mumbai. However, he denied that the cabinet rejig influenced his resignation.

"There is no question of any disappointment over portfolio, which is itself an important one, with concerns related to the requirements of a large section of the people. The reasons are totally personal," Kamat said.

Congress on Tuesday had intially downplayed his absence at the swearing-in ceremony saying that as he had already been sworn-in as a minister of state before, he was not needed to take the oath again. But now, his resignation puts the party in a difficult spot with crucial civic polls in Mumbai approaching.

"We thought that he with his knowledge of the city's problems and his enhanced political stature, would seize the opportunity to make a difference. It is regretful that he has not appreciated this," said a Congress source.

Most in the party believe that the decision to carve out drinking water and sanitation off the rural development ministry, in itself, is evidence of the importance of the new portfolio, a nuance that was lost on Kamat.

However, his resignation complicates matters for the party even though other leaders who were sulking over similar slights and perceived demotions like Srikant Jena, appointed minister of state (independent charge) for statistics and programme implementation and Veerappa Moily, transferred out of the law ministry to the corporate affairs ministry were placated.

Jena, who wanted a cabinet berth, attended the investiture at Rashtrapati Bhawan after he had said in the media that his appointment was due "coalition compulsions" and that he would speak to the prime ministet Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi about his "seniority" and "the aspirations of the people of Odisha" (being the LS member from the state's Balasore constituency). Moily, meanwhile, pinned the blame on "vested interests" making the law ministry the scapegoat "for the failures of administrative ministries."