By IANS,
New Delhi : With the cabinet reshuffle set to bring younger faces to the fore, Congress leaders Sunday called it a step towards 2014 polls.
“This reshuffle is an important step towards 2014,” Congress leader Milind Deora said here.
“Many young faces are coming up, I have heard my friends Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia are being elevated,” Deora said.
Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “We youngsters will have to come up to their (party high command’s) expectations.”
Congress leader Harish Rawat, also likely to be elevated in the reshuffle, said more young ministers were needed as India is a “young nation”.
“We are the world’s youngest country, and will be the youngest country for long. So we need more young leaders,” Rawat said.
He also said that the country saw Rahul Gandhi as the “future prime minister”.
Ajay Maken, who is also likely to get an important portfolio, said it was time for the young to show their power.
Asked if his exit would be a loss to the sports ministry, Maken said, “Wherever I go, I will perform to the best of my ability. It is an opportunity for all of us ‘youngsters’ and though I am not that young, I am comparatively younger.”
Nationalist Congress Party leader Tariq Anwar, who is the only one from the alliance partners likely to get an elevation, said he hoped he would perform well in the new role.
“It will be my first experience as a minister and I am feeling very upset because added responsibility comes my way. This time, my role will be different, but with support of the leadership I hope I will do better,” Anwar said.
The cabinet reshuffle is scheduled 11.30 a.m. Sunday.
Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi from Andhra Pradesh, Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, the brother of late Congress leader Abu Barkat Ghani Khan Choudhury from Malda district of West Bengal, Deepa Dasmunsi, Shashi Tharoor, Ajay Maken, Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia are some of the leaders whose names are doing the rounds as likely candidates for promotion.