T R Baalu may not be inducted into Cabinet

The much-touted reshuffle of the Union Cabinet has led to another spat between the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazgham.

The Congress has refused to induct the DMK nominee T R Baalu in the Cabinet, in place of A Raja, who resigned as telecom minister amidst serious charges of irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

Though Congress sources were insisting that the reshuffle, secheduled for Wednesday evening, was a minor, interim arrangement, the message that the government wanted to send across was that it was taking action against ministers tainted with corruption charges or seen as incompetent.

Baalu was shipping minister in United Progressive Alliance-1. He courted controversy by pushing for the controversial Ram Sethu project.