PM, Sonia meet amid talk of Cabinet reshuffle

The Congress President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, today met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, giving further momentum to the talk of an imminent Cabinet reshuffle possible early next week.

The meeting this morning comes in the aftermath of the resignation of the Textiles Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, and the offer of resignation by the Corporate Affairs Minister, Mr Murli Deora, apparently lending a sense of urgency to the long-speculated exercise of restructuring of the Union Council of Ministers.

Dr Manmohan Singh-Ms Sonia Gandhi meeting also came even as the senior party leader, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, met the DMK chief, Mr M. Karunanidhi, in Chennai and discussed the current political situation.

It was not clear whether the DMK would be sending replacements for Mr Maran and former Telecom Minister Mr A. Raja, who both had to quit on the 2G issue. Reports had it that the DMK may not be keen on such replacements immediately.

Mr Pranab Mukherjee merely said: “There is a lot of speculation whether the alliance between Congress and DMK is continuing or not.

“My respectful submission is this alliance is there, the alliance will continue and it will be strengthened.”

There has been speculation for a long time about the Cabinet expansion and reshuffle as the Prime Minister himself had spoken about a “more expansive exercise” after he undertook a rejig of the Cabinet in January.

In his recent interaction with print editors, Dr Manmohan Singh had said the reshuffle of the Cabinet was a “work in progress’’.

There are a number of vacancies in the Union Cabinet like Railways, following the resignation of Ms Mamata Banerjee who became the West Bengal Chief Minister, and Textiles in the wake of Mr Dayanidhi Maran’s resignation on the 2G issue.

There are a number of ministers holding dual charge like Mr Kapil Sibal who has Telecom and HRD. Mr P.K. Bansal handles the portfolios of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and Parliamentary Affairs.

Elevation of some of the ministers particularly from Uttar Pradesh which is goes to polls next year is expected. There is also a possibility of dropping some ministers considered to be non-performing.

Mr Pranab Mukherjee parried a pointed question whether he had discussed with Mr Karunanidhi the issue of DMK giving the names of its leaders to replace Mr Maran and Mr Raja.

The Law Minister, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, expressed confidence that he would continue in the Ministry.

“Do you have any doubt about it,” he told reporters when asked whether he would continue in the Government after the proposed reshuffle.

He said reshuffle was the prerogative of the Prime Minister and he had no comments on it.

Meanwhile, Mr Sibal met the Prime Minister today.

COMMENT NOW