By IANS
New Delhi: The stage is set for Sunday’s much-anticipated cabinet reshuffle with seven ministers – including S.M. Krishna and Ambika Soni – stepping down to make way for newer, and possibly, younger faces.
The new ministers with take oath in the morning. A Rashtrapati Bhavan official told IANS “It will be held at 11.30 a.m.”
Ahead of the reshuffle, Krishna quit as external affairs minister, Ambika Soni stepped down as information and broadcasting minister, Subodh Kant Sahai resigned as tourism minister and Mukul Wasnik as social justice and empowerment minister.
The ministers of state who quit were Vincent Pala (water resources), Agatha Sangma (rural development) and Mahadeo Singh Khandela (tribal affairs). A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique Saturday evening said the resignations have been accepted.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who the prime minister has invited to join the government, may accept the offer. But there is speculation he may take on a more prominent role in the Congress party.
Rahul Gandhi met party president and his mother Sonia Gandhi Saturday amid talk that he is pushing to bring younger faces into the ministry.
The cabinet reshuffle was necessitated by the Trinamool Congress, with six ministers, quitting the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the government last month.
The reshuffle Sunday would give sufficient time to the new ministers to be prepared for the winter session of parliament to be held November-December.
The rejig is likely to be the last one before the 2014 general elections and comes days after the Manmohan Singh government shrugged off criticism of policy paralysis by ushering in a slew of economic reforms, including allowing FDI in multi-brand retail as well as deciding to open up the insurance and pensions sector to foreign investment.
Ambika Soni, Sahai and Wasnik met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday morning.
“I was asked if I would like to work in the party and naturally, if I would like to work in the party, I would have to give full time to the party which would entail resigning from the cabinet,” Soni told reporters later.
Sahai, the MP from Ranchi, had flown to New Delhi late Friday evening after being summoned by the Congress high command.
However, before leaving Sahai had said, “I am always there to serve the people of Jharkhand. Even if I am not in the union cabinet, I am always there for the people of Jharkhand and my voters of Ranchi.”
Sahai had been targeted over the coal blocks allocation scam.
Among the ministers who may be dropped are Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma. Jaiswal as well as Sahai had came under attack from the opposition on the coal blocks allocation issue.
Among the names doing the rounds as probable new faces to be inducted in the cabinet Sunday are of actor-turned politician Chiranjeevi from Andhra Pradesh and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, the brother of late Congress leader Abu Barkat Ghani Khan Choudhury, from Malda district of West Bengal.
Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) had joined the Congress last year and there has been talk of including the prominent Andhra Pradesh player in the ministry.
Another West Bengal Congress leader, Deepa Dasmunsi, MP from Raiganj, is also being touted among the probable from the state who could be inducted. The other likely entrants are Pradeep Bhattacharya, state Congress chief, and Adi Ranjan Chowdhury, MP from Burhanpur.
There are several names being speculated as possible successors of Krishna, including Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, senior party MP Karan Singh, and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor.
Krishna is likely to work in Karnataka to strengthen the party ahead of state elections due next year. Speaking to reporters, the 80-year-old former chief minister of Karnataka said he had stepped down to make way for “younger blood” and had brought in transparency in the working of the external affairs ministry during his tenure.
There is also speculation that Minister of State for Human Resource Development Daggubati Purandeswari could replace Anand Sharma as commerce minister. Purandeswari represents the Visakhapatnam constituency of Andhra Pradesh and is the daughter of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.T. Rama Rao.
Chiranjeevi is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Some ministers holding more than one portfolio, like Kapil Sibal, C.P. Joshi, Vayalar Ravi and Salman Khurshid, make be relieved of one ministry, while some ministers of state, like Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia, are likely to be elevated.
The death of Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was minister for science and technology, had led to a vacancy for a cabinet post for a leader from Maharashtra.