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| MoS Anand Sharma won't be promoted | | Prime Minister wants Kapil Sibal to be Foreign Minister | |
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, SEPT. 25: India is to have a new Foreign Minister "soon", according to a senior Ministerial source. "You can expect a full-fledged Minister of External Affairs any time in the next few days", the source divulged on Monday.
The Ministerial source, known for his close proximity to both Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and the Congress president and chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), Sonia Gandhi, also divulged that the Prime Minister had postponed the eagerly-awaited exercise of putting in place a new Minister of External Affairs as Congress leaders favoured appointment of a new Foreign Minister "only after September 25".
Anand Sharma, currently Minister of State for External Affairs, is reported to have failed to garner the support of the Congress high command (read Sonia Gandhi) for his elevation as the full-fledged External Affairs Minister. At a time when reports are doing the rounds in the Union capital about the Prime Minister's preference for Kapil Sibal, curently Science and Technology Minister, as the new External Affairs Minister, Ananda Sharma was reported to have sent out a signal to Manmohan Singh about his (Sharma's) seniority over Sibal as Congress leader.
This signal notwithstanding, the possibility of Ananda Sharma getting promotion in the South Block has ben ruled out. At a time when the stage is being set for appointment of a new External Affairs Minister, competent observers say that the debate in the Congress high command on the names of Karan Singh and SM Krishna has suddenly stopped. This clearly suggests that in the changed scenario neither Karan Singh, Rajya Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir, nor SM Krishna, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, are in the 'merit' list.
According to some Congress leaders, the Prime Minister is not going to have a major Cabinet reshuffle. And as Manmohan Singh has stated that only a Foreign Minister will be named "soon", these Congress leaders opine that such a person could be from the existing Union Council of Ministers.
Manmohan Singh is said to be keen to have Kapil Sibal, Science and Technology Minister, as India's new Foreign Minister. At the same time, Sonia Gandhi is reportedly in favour of the present Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, marching into Delhi's South Block as the new External Affairs Minister.
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