Chidambaram is FM, Patil gets home

Nearly 30 hours after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was sworn in, the announcement of portfolios was made on Sunday night.

Contrary to expectations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose not to retain the finance ministry and instead brought back Congress leader P Chidambaram.

The Council of Ministers

Congress leaders also cornered the other plum portfolios -- Pranab Mukherjee will be the defence minister, Shivraj Patil will look after home and K Natwar Singh will take charge of external affairs.

Others in the list:

Cabinet Ministers

Arjun Singh, Congress: Human resource development
Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party: Agriculture, food & civil supplies, consumer affairs and public distribution
Laloo Prasad, Rashtriya Janata Dal: Railways
Ram Vilas Paswan, Lok Janshakti Party: Chemicals and fertilisers. He will also take charge of steel.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress: Parliamentary Affairs and urban development
S Jaipal Reddy, Congress: Information and broadcasting. He will also look after culture.
Sisram Ola, Congress: Labour and employment
Mahavir Prasad, Congress: Small scale, agro and rural industries
P R Kyndiah, Congress: Tribal affairs and development of the Northeast
T R Baalu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam: Road transport and highways
Shankarsinh Vaghela, Congress: Textiles
Kamal Nath, Congress: Commerce and industry
H R Bhardwaj, Congress: Law and justice
P M Sayeed, Congress: Power
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, RJD: Rural development
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, Congress: Water resources
Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress: Petroleum & natural gas. He will also take charge of panchayati raj.
Sunil Dutt, Congress: Youth affairs and sports
Shibu Soren, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha: Coal, mines and minerals
A Raja, DMK: Environment and forest
Dayanidhi Maran, DMK: Communication and IT
Meira Kumar, Congress: Social justice and empowerment
K Chandrasekhar Rao, Telangana Rashtra Samithi: Shipping
Anbumani Ramdoss, Pattali Makkal Katchi: Health and family welfare

Ministers of state (independent charge)

Santosh Mohan Deb, Congress: Heavy industries and public enterprises
Jagdish Tytler, Congress: Non-resident affairs
Oscar Fernandes, Congress: Statistics and programme implementation
Renuka Choudhury, Congress: Tourism
Subodh Kant Sahay, Congress: Food Processing
Kapil Sibal, Congress: Science and technology, ocean development
Vilas Muttemwar, Congress: Non-conventional energy sources
Kumari Selja, Congress: Urban employment and poverty alleviation
Praful Patel, NCP: Civil aviation
Premchand Gupta: Company affairs

Ministers of state

E Ahamed, Indian Union Muslim League: External affairs
Suresh Pachauri, Congress: Personnel, parliamentary affairs
B K Handique: Defence, parliamentary affairs
P Lakshmi, Congress: Health and family welfare
Dasari Narayan Rao, Congress: Coal and mines
Shaqeel Ahmed, Congress: Communications & IT
Rao Indrajit Singh, Congress: External affairs
Naranbhai Rathwa, Congress: Railways
Rehman Khan, Congress: Chemicals and fertilisers
K H Muniyappa, Congress: Road transport and highways
M V Rajasekharan, Congress:

Planning.
Kantilal Bhuria, Congress Agriculture, food and civil supplies, consumer affairs and public distribution
Manikrao Gavit, Congress: Home affairs
Sriprakash Jaiswal, Congress: Home affairs
Prithviraj Chavan, Congress: Prime pinister's office
Mohammed Taslimuddin, Congress: Heavy industries and public enterprises
Suryakanta Patil, NCP: Rural development, parliamentary affairs
Mohammed A A Fatmi, RJD: HRD
A Narendra, TRS: Rural development
R Velu, PMK: Railways
S S Palanimanickam, DMK: Commerce and industry
S Regupathy, DMK: Home affairs
K Venkatapathy, DMK: Law and justice
S Jegadeesan: Social Justice and empowerment
E V K S Elangovan, Congress: Petroleum and natural gas
Kanti Singh, RJD: HRD
Namo Narain Meena, Congress: Environment and forests
Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav, RJD: Water resources
Akhilesh Singh, RJD: Agriculture, food and civil supplies, consumers affairs and public distribution

A Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué said Manmohan Singh would look after the ministries that have remain unallocated.