Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will retain the key External Affairs portfolio and the Coal portfolio will go back to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren in the expansion and reshuffle of the Union Cabinet today. He will induct seven new Cabinet ministers and 11 ministers of state, the prime minister's media adviser Sanjay Baru announced late last night. The oaths of secrecy and office will be administered by President A P J Abdul Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan at noon.
Andhra Pradesh Governor Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Maharashtra chief minister A R Antulay, Rajya Sabha member Murli Deora, RS member from Kerala Vayalar Ravi, are among the new faces in the Cabinet. Shinde gets power, and Antulay gets Minority Affairs. Mani Shankar Aiyar has been relieved of the key petroleum ministry which will go to Deora. Aiyar will retain the ministry of Panchayati Raj. He also has Youth Affairs and Sports, now held by Oscar Fernandes. Kerala strongman Vayalar Ravi will be the new minister for Overseas Indian Affairs while Congress general secretary Ambika Soni will head the minstry of Tourism and Culture.
RS member Saifuddin Soz, a minister in the United Front government in the mid-90s, will look after water resources. Santosh Mohan Deb, who heads the Heavy Industries ministry and the Rashtriya Janata Dal's P C Gupta heading the ministry of Company Affairs, have been elevated to Cabinet rank and will retain their earlier portfolios. G K Vasan, Tamil Nadu Congress president and son of late Congress veteran G K Moopanar, will be Minister of State with independent charge of Statistics and Programme Implementation while Renuka Chowdhury has been shifted from tourism to women and child development.
Oscar Fernades, who was looking after Youth Affairs and Sports and also holding additional charge of the ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, will be minister (independent charge) without portfolio. Bringing young blood into the council of ministers, Singh has made Congress spokesman Anand Sharma a minister of state in the External Affairs ministry while Congress MP from Chandigarh, Pawan Kumar Bansal, will be MoS Finance. Rao Inderjit Singh has been moved as Minister of State from External Affairs ministry to Defence.
The new Ministers of State are: Pawan Kumar Bansal (Finance), Anand Sharma (External Affairs), Ajay Maken (Urban Development), M M Pallam Raju (Defence), Chandrasekhar Sahu (Labour), Akhilesh Das (Steel), Ashwani Kumar (Industries), D Purandareshwari (HRD), E V K S Elangovan (Textiles), Rao Inderjit Singh (Defence), Kanti Singh (Heavy Industries), B K Handique (Chemicals and Fertilisers and Parliamentary Affairs). In addition to these, there are three Ministers of State without Portfolio. They are: Dinshaw Patel, T Subbirami Reddy and Jairam Ramesh.