Minister without portfolio: past, future

In 2002, Murasoli Maran DMK took ill. He died the following year, spending his final months as minister without portfolio.

In 2003, too, Mamata Banerjee re-entered the NDA government as minister without portfolio. The Railway Ministry, which she had surrendered on resigning in 2001, was with Nitish Kumar of JDU.

Coalition contradictions also caused K. Chandrashekhara Rao8217;s six-month ministry without portfolio. The TRS leader was given Shipping when the UPA was sworn in but gave it up when the Congress realised it had also promised it to the DMK.

With Natwar becoming minister without portfolio, the prime minister has taken charge of the External Affairs Ministry. The appropriate precedent for this probably goes back to P.V. Narasimha Rao8217;s prime ministry.

From 1993 till he died in 1995, Dinesh Singh was India8217;s foreign minister. He spent the last phase battling a terminal illness. In this period, Rao, assisted by an able foreign secretary, J.N. Dixit, ran and reshaped India8217;s foreign policy.

Could history be repeating itself?