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| It's official: Krishna gets MEA, Pranab new FM | | | AGENCIES
New Delhi, May 23: A day after Manmohan Singh was sworn in for a second consecutive five-year term as Prime Minister along with 19 other Cabinet ministers, the allocation of portfolios began on Saturday.
The External Affairs Ministry has been allotted to SM Krishna, while Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has been made the new Railway Minister.
Pranab Mukherjee would be seen in a new role as the country’s Finance Minister -- a portfolio he held 25 years ago -- while P Chidambaram would continue to hold charge of the Home Ministry. AK Antony too would continue to be the Defence Minister.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar has also retained the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution.
The allocation of six portfolios came just hours after the new Union Cabinet met at the PM’s residence – 7, Race Course Road – and decided to convene the 15th Lok Sabha’s first session from June 1-9.
SM Krishna and Mamata Banerjee are the two new entrants in Dr Singh’s Cabinet, which was sworn in yesterday.
The 76-year-old economist-politician was sworn in along with senior members of his previous team, Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar and AK Antony.
The 19 ministers, all of Cabinet rank, include Ghulam Nabi Azad, Veerappa Moily, new entrant Rajasthan PCC chief CP Joshi and Anand Sharma and BK Handique, who were promoted from the previous ministry.
Others inducted were S Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Vayalar Ravi, Meira Kumar, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni and Sushil Kumar Shinde.
Failure of negotiations with southern ally, DMK, over the number of slots and portfolios resulted in only 19 ministers taking oath from the President. Another group of ministers, probably a larger one, is expected to be sworn-in on Tuesday.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee returned to the railway ministry after a long gap, and promptly went on to announce that she hopes to issue free rail passes to students and vendors.
Mukherjee, who returns to the finance ministry after 25 long years, promised all efforts to lift the economy out of the slowdown and said the regular budget would be presented in due course.
"The Indian economy remains resilient," he told reporters. "All economic issues will be addressed. My priority is to put the economy back on track. Efforts will be made to insulate the Indian economy from the adverse impact of the financial meltdown."
Mukherjee, the seniormost minister in the cabinet, immediately got the thumbs up from the industry.
"Pranab Mukherjee as finance minister will do full justice to his job and come up to the expectations of the people of India and its industry," said the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham).
In his first media interaction after taking charge, External Affairs Minister Krishna asked Pakistan to take "credible action" to dismantle the terror infrastructure if it wants to resume dialogue with India.
Officials said that Manmohan Singh had a busy first full working day in his second five-year innings, at the head of a Congress-led coalition that convincingly won the general elections.
After the cabinet meeting, Manmohan Singh held meetings with his officials - in the morning and again in the evening.
Manmohan Singh, along with 19 cabinet ministers, took the oath of office and secrecy Friday evening, saying economy will be his top priority. On Saturday he told the cabinet meeting: "We have made a number of promises, and we have promises to keep."
According to an official announcement, Manmohan Singh will look after all ministries apart from those allocated to the six senior cabinet ministers until more people are inducted into what will be a three-tier ministry.
However, surprisingly the limited allocation of portfolios was announced by the Rashtrapati Bhawan today on the advice of the Prime Minister, who preferred to get down to business and distributed ministries on which there are apparently no differences.
Portfolios for Ministers including Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jaipal Reddy, Anand Sharma and new entrants like Veerappa Moily and C P Joshi are yet to be announced.
These ministers may get their portfolios once the likely expansion of the Union Council of Ministers takes place on Tuesday as expected. So far only six portfolios have been distributed.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi today issued a statement welcoming the Prime Minister's statement on two of his party leaders--T R Baalu and A Raja--and there are signs that the party may accept the Congress offer of portfolios by Tuesday.
The party may get three portfolios of Cabinet rank for Dayanidhi Maran, Raja and Baalu and two Ministers of State rank for Karunanidhi's son M K Azhagiri and daughter Kanimozhi. The party may also get two more Ministers of State.
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