8 new faces in Manmohan ministry; Jairam moved out of Environment

In the much-talked about revamping of his
ministry, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on Tuesday dropped seven ministers,
inducted V. Kishore Chandra Deo and seven
other new faces, and elevated three others
including Jairam Ramesh from whom
Environment and Forests has been taken
away.
Dr. Singh did not touch the ‘big four’ —
Finance, Home, Defence and External Affairs
—— but shifted M. Veerappa Moily from
Law to Corporate Affairs and brought
Salman Khursheed in his place.
Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi
has been elevated to the Cabinet rank and
given the Railways portfolio left vacant by
Mamata Banerjee after she became the
West Bengal Chief Minister.
Beni Prasad Verma became a Cabinet
Minister for Steel, a portfolio he earlier held
as Minister of State with Independent
charge.
The other new faces in the Council of
Ministers are Jayanthi Natarajan
(Environment and Forests), Dibrugarh MP
Paban Singh Ghatowar , Trinamool
Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyaya
(Health and Family Welfare), Alwar MP
Jitendra Singh (Home), Milind Deora
(Communication and IT) and Rajiv Shukla
(Parliamentary Affairs).
Ministers who have been dropped from the
Cabinet are M. S. Gill, B. K. Handique , Kantilal
Bhuria, Murli Deora and Dayanidhi Maran.
While Mr. Maran had resigned last week in
the wake of him being named in the 2G
scam, Mr. Deora had offered his resignation
citing old age and had reportedly sought a
berth for his son Milind.
The new ministers would be sworn in at a
function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan this
evening. While there were eight additions,
seven have been axed.Restructuring incomplete
Mr. Ramesh, who was seen as a pro-active
minister but often courted controversies by
his handling of environmental issues, has
been shifted to Rural Development in the
Cabinet.
The restructuring exercise appeared
incomplete with additional charge of
Textiles and Water Resources being given
to Anand Sharma and P. K. Bansal
respectively. Mr. Sharma retains Commerce
and Industry and Bansal retains
Parliamentary Affairs.
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal continues to hold
additional charge of Telecom, while
Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi
retains additional charge of Civil Aviation.
Telecom portfolio went to Mr. Sibal after
DMK representative A. Raja resigned over
allegations in 2G spectrum allocation.
No DMK representative was inducted today
as replacements for Mr. Raja and Mr. Maran.
Apparently, some of the portfolios have
been kept as additional charges so that DMK
can be accommodated if it chooses to send
replacements.
DMK is expected to decide on the issue at its
General Council meeting on July 23—24 at
Coimbatore.
Veteran Parliamentarian from Andhra
Pradesh V. Kishore Chandra Deo makes his
entry into the Cabinet for the first time,
making him the second minister from the
State after S Jaipal Reddy.
Srikant Jena, who nursed a grudge when
he was made Minister of State in 2009, has
got a promotion being given Independent
charge of Statistics and Programme
Implementation. However, he continues to
be MoS in Chemicals and Fertilisers where
DMK’s M. K. Alagiri continues to be Cabinet
minister. Jena was a Cabinet Minister in the
United Front government of 1996—97.The lone Congress MP from Chhattisgarh
Charan Das Mahant makes a debut as MoS in
Agriculture and Food Processing.
Gurudas Kamat has been shifted from Home
and Communication ministries to a new
ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
with Independent Charge.
Rural Development Minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh has been shifted to Science and
Technology and Earth Sciences.
Minister of State for External Affairs E.
Ahamed has been also been allocated the
HRD portfolio.
Minsters of State V. Narayanasamy and
Ashwani Kumar shed Parliamentary Affairs
portfolios which have gone to new entrant
Rajiv Shukla and Harish Rawat, who retains
MoS for Agriculture and Food Processing.
Minister of State for Shipping and Railways
Mukul Roy, who yesterday defied the Prime
Minister by not visiting the rail accident site
in Assam, has been divested of the Railways
portfolio.