Rahul unlikely to join govt; Chidambaram to become FM

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has more or less finalised the plan to tweak the Union Cabinet before Parliament opens on August 8. Three ministers will be shifted to the new portfolios. Home Minister P Chidambaram, as expected, will become the finance minister. He succeeds Pranab Mukherjee who has become President of India. He is impatiently waiting for the announcement to be made within 'three to four days'. Sheela Bhatt reports.

While talking to rediff.com, a senior Congress leader claimed that Rahul is 'unlikely' to join the government. He is likely to take on a more active role in the party. 

Power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is set to get an unprecedented promotion if he is shifted to the home ministry. If he becomes home minister, and also Leader of House in Lok Sabha, his stature will rise dramatically in government.

Shinde is much junior to Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra politics, but he will jump many notches above in the Cabinet and in protocol. It was one of the reasons for Pawar's heart-burn recently.

It is expected that the power ministry may go to younger Congressmen, but still the 'search' is on and no name has been finalised. Although it's unlikely, but in the last minute power-tussle inside the Congress, Minister for Corporate Affairs Veerpppa Moily may get a new posting.

The source says that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is not inclined to keep the finance portfolio with him due to reasons of health. Also, he doesn't want any new trouble in his legacy that would end with the term of the United Progressive Alliance government.