Ministers stay away from new posts

She is said to be peeved with her party supremo, Telugu Desam Party chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. She believes that Naidu did not use his clout with Gujral on her behalf. If he had wanted, it would not have been difficult for Naidu to get her Civil Aviation (which she was expecting), she feels.

Sources close to Chowdhury said that she feels that she deserved a better ministry, given her seniority in Parliament. Even the year’s planning has been completed in the Health Ministry and there is not much that she can do now to leave her stamp.

Adding salt to her wounds was the elevation of party colleague U Venkateswarlu, who has now been given independent charge of the Urban Development Ministry. He is a first-timer in Parliament whereas Chowdhury has been in the Rajya Sabha since 1986.

Another TDP minister, S Venugopalachari, is also learnt to be unhappy about being shifted from the important Power portfolio to the low-profile Agriculture Ministry. But Gujral did not have much of a choice as Naidu himself was not very pleased with Venugopalachari’s stint in the Power Ministry.

Venugopalachari had earlier earned H D Deve Gowda’s wrath when he was Prime Minister for some of his actions. Naidu apparently has also disapproved of the minister’s playing a small role in a Telugu film being produced by party MP and actor Mohan Babu. The screen villain-MP had been involved in an assault case last week in Andhra Pradesh in Venugopalachari’s presence.It may be pique in Renuka Chowdhury’s case but the Health Ministry was not the only one which did not see its new minister. As many as seven more ministers did not assume charge of their new offices this morning, mainly because their predecessors were away on tours.

Labour Minister M Arunachalam, for instance, is in Geneva attending an International Labour Organisation (ILO) conference. His successor, Veerendra Kumar, therefore, stayed on in the Finance Ministry, marking time till Arunachalam’s return.

Since Kumar did not hand over charge, his successor, Satpal Maharaj, could not occupy his new office in North Block. He thus continues in the Railway Ministry till such time as Kumar vacates his room.

Similarly, Water Resources Minister Janeshwar Mishra’s absence blocked Sisram Ola today. Mishra is in Ballia on a political tour of Uttar Pradesh and so Ola continues in Chemicals and Fertilisers for the time being.Planning Minister Y K Alagh took off for Paris last night, holding up new minister Ratnamala Savanoor who is to succeed him. Alagh has been moved to the Power Ministry in place of S Venugopalachari. The latter, however, is away in Hyderabad and is slated to return only on June 12.

Another minister who was worried about the Tuesday shadow was the new MOS in the Civil Aviation Ministry, Jayanthi Natarajan. She was reassured by a senior cabinet colleague, who doubles as an astrologer, that her stars made her an exception to the rule.

A relieved Natarajan registered her presence in both the ministries under her charge — Civil Aviation as well as Parliamentary Affairs.Sherwani had a few anxious moments when his successor, Chowdhury did not show up in the morning. But after she reassured him that she would be present the next day, he signed off from the Health Ministry and made his way to South Block where he was joined by the other new incumbent in the Ministry of External Affairs, Kamla Sinha.