NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh carried out a minor reshuffle of portfolios by shifting S. Jaipal Reddy to the Urban Development Ministry from Information and Broadcasting, a Ministry now allocated to Priyaranjan Dasmunsi.

Mr. Dasmunsi has been relieved of Water Resources, which has now been given to Santosh Mohan Dev, Minister of State with independent charge in addition to his existing portfolio of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

Oscar Fernandes, Minister of State for Programme Implementation and Statistics gets two additional portfolios, that of Youth Affairs and Sports and Overseas Indian Affairs, a Rashtrapati Bhavan press communiqué said here.

The reallocation of portfolios comes ahead of the winter session of Parliament due to begin on Wednesday. The Prime Minister continues to hold the External Affairs portfolio.

Mr. Reddy retains the Culture portfolio while Mr. Dasmunsi continues to hold charge of Parliamentary Affairs, a portfolio he got after Ghulam Nabi Azad was named Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Mr. Azad had held the Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Ministries.

Mr. Fernandes, Minister of State with independent charge gets the additional portfolio of Youth Affairs and Sports. The portfolio was with Prithviraj Chavan, a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office after the death of Sunil Dutt during May this year. The Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry was with Jagdish Tytler who resigned from the Union Council of Ministers during the monsoon session after his name figured in the report of the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry that probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The re-allocation of portfolios also puts an end to speculation of an imminent expansion of the Manmohan Singh Council of Ministers on account of a number of vacancies.

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