Some new Ministers skip Day One, the fault lying with their stars

‘‘Tuesday (mangal) is not a good day to start any new work,’’ explained an astrologer. ‘‘And Finance is governed by Mercury, so Wednesday is a better day for the Finance Minister in any case,’’ he said.

Singh, however, did not sit idle. While in South Block, he met the RBI governor as well as senior bureaucrats of Finance and Company Affairs.

Since Singh did not demit office, a quid pro quo with Yashwant Sinha could not take place. The new External Affairs Minister is expected to take charge tomorrow at 4.45 pm — much after the dreaded rahukaalam is over.

‘‘Even the foreign affairs office is governed by Jupiter, Mercury and Moon and therefore Budh is a better day to take over. So far as the time is concerned, 12 noon to 1.30 pm is rahukaalam and anytime after 3 pm is auspicious,’’ said the astrologer.

Filmstar Shatrughan Sinha also gave his ministry a miss for a better muhurat but held a long meeting at his residence with the Director General of Health Services and bureaucrats from the Health and Family Welfare department. He plans to enter Nirman Bhavan at 3 pm tomorrow.

Former Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Shanta Kumar delayed taking charge of Rural Development until 4 pm today, although all he had to do was walk down a floor in Krishi Bhawan.

While Kumar’s office denied that he had consulted an astrologer, former Minister of State for Defence U.V. Krishnamaraju — who shifted office at the same hour — said the time was indeed auspicious.

‘‘I had to join today as there is no auspicious time until either tomorrow afternoon or the same time the day after,’’ said the new Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs.

It is Krishnamaraju’s third assignment since he joined the Vajpayee Cabinet in September 2000.

Kumar rationalised his shift by quoting a poem glorifying rural India but could not hide his nostalgia for the previous office.

His regret was the food policy due for release next week. ‘‘I won’t be there to receive it,’’ he lamented.

Vikhe Patil, who was to assume office at 9:30 am, turned up at 11 am, took charge and cancelled two meetings as he wanted to understand the ministry first. But his replacement — Minister of State for Finance Anant Gangaram Geete — was quick to announce an agenda to weed out unscrupulous elements in cooperative banks to stop scams from recurring.

Sumitra Mahajan and Sanjay Paswan also joined office as Ministers of State for IT and Communication but will have to sit idle for 10 days until their boss, Pramod Mahajan, returns from a holiday to allocate work between them.

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment O. Rajagopal did not take charge as he was in Chicago for a cultural programme of the US Malayali Association. The former Minister of State for Railways is likely to take charge on Monday, his aides said.