The Hindu : Front Page : Antulay, Shinde in Union Cabinet

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Monday, Jan 30, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Antulay, Shinde in Union Cabinet

Special Correspondent

18 new faces, Shibu Soren re-inducted, three elevated to Cabinet rank

PHOTO: V.V. KRISHNAN

NEW LINE-UP: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam administering the oath of office to new Union Ministers Sushil Shinde, A.R. Antulay, Vayalar Ravi, Murli Deora at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New delhi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI : The United Progressive Alliance Government on Sunday effected its first major expansion of the Council of Ministers, inducting 18 new faces, elevating three to Cabinet rank and re-inducting Shibu Soren.

All the new entrants are from the Congress while the only one re-induction and elevation apiece are drawn from the allies.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will continue to look after the Foreign Affairs portfolio while four new Ministers have not been given any charge.

The swearing-in ceremony at noon at the Rashtrapati Bhavan saw 10 new Cabinet Ministers, one Minister of State with Independent charge and 11 more Ministers of State. Among the Cabinet Ministers are three senior Congress leaders from Maharashtra — Sushil Kumar Shinde, A. R. Antulay and Murli Deora. Mani Shankar Aiyar has been relieved of the Petroleum portfolio, which has been allocated to Mr. Deora. Mr. Shinde is the new Power Minister in place of P.M. Sayeed who passed away, while Mr. Antulay is the Cabinet Minister for Minority Affairs, a newly created portfolio.

PHOTO: V.V. KRISHNAN

NEW LINE-UP: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam administering the oath of office to new Union Ministers Ambika Soni, Shibu Soren, Santosh Mohan Dev, P.C. Gupta, Kapil Sibal and Saifudin Soz at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New delhi on Sunday.

With the nomination of Vayalar Ravi as Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Kerala gets its first Cabinet Minister in the present dispensation. Congress general secretary Ambika Soni is Minister for Tourism and Culture and Saifudin Soz, Water Resources Minister, fills the slot vacated by Priyaranjan Dasmunsi.

Santosh Mohan Dev, Prem Chand Gupta and Kapil Sibal are now of Cabinet rank with all of them retaining their portfolios. G. K. Vasan is the sole new Minister for State (MoS) with independent charge of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Oscar Fernandes has been retained as MoS with independent charge without a portfolio.

Apart from Mr. Fernandes, no portfolio was allocated to three Ministers of State — Subbarami Reddy, Jairam Ramesh and Dinsha Patel. The other new Ministers of State are Anand Sharma (External Affairs), M. Pallam Raju (Defence), D. Purandareswari (Human Resource Development), Pavan Kumar Bansal (Finance), Ajay Maken (Urban Development), Chandra Sekhar Sahu (Labour), Akhilesh Das (Steel) and Ashwani Kumar (Industry).

The expansion of the Cabinet also saw a minor change in some portfolios. Minister of State for HRD Kanti Singh will now handle Heavy Industries, B. K. Handique has been moved from Defence to Chemicals and Fertilizers, and Parliamentary Affairs, E.V.K.S. Elangovan from Commerce to Textiles, and Rao Inderjit Singh from External Affairs to Defence. Renuka Chowdhury has been shifted from Tourism to Woman and Child Development.

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