Soren, Antony likely to get Cabinet berths

According to sources, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Shibu Soren and former Kerala chief minister A K Antony are likely to be inducted with one Cabinet member being dropped. Vacancies at the Coal, Sports and Youth Affairs ministries will be filled and more Ministers of State inducted.

No changes are expected in the Home, Finance, Defence, Foreign and Commerce portfolios.

The reshuffle is likely to be firmed up after Antony is sworn in as Rajya Sabha member on Thursday.

Congress ministers holding two portfolios may have to give up one ministry, allowing more MPs to be inducted into the cabinet. Ghulam Nabi Azad (Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development), S Jaipal Reddy (Information & Broadcasting as well as Culture), P R Kyndiah (Tribal Affairs and North-East), Kamal Nath (Commerce and Industry) and Mani Shankar Aiyar (Petroleum and Panchayati Raj) currently hold two portfolios. Azad called on Sonia last evening before meeting the PM for nearly an hour.

Andhra Pradesh, which has only four ministers in the cabinet, wants greater representation even as a delegation from Assam met Sonia today with the same demand. MPs from Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have no ministerial berths.

Madhya Pradesh would like two-time MP Jyotiraditya Scindia in the Cabinet, but five of its nine MPs — Arjun Singh, Hansraj Bharadwaj, Suresh Pachouri, Kamal Nath and Kanti Lal Bhuria — are already ministers.

The Prime Minister’s Office has reportedly prepared a list of 54 MPs who have been returned to Parliament more than once to make it easier for Singh to decide on his new colleagues.

Mines Minister Sis Ram Ola may be dropped and Reddy could be asked to give the culture portfolio to Ambika Soni. Reddy is none too happy with the portfolio anyway given the Congress chief’s interest in the subject but Soni wants more than just culture. The latter met Singh this month to convey how keen she is to join the government. The Prime Minister has considered limiting the reshuffle to filling vacant slots and inducting a few ministers of state, but Congress MPs have been urging him to accommodate them in the cabinet. They are unlikely to be satisfied with Minister of State berths for a number of junior ministers have complained to Singh that they are being given no work.

It now seems unlikely that even P M Sayeed will be removed as Power Minister and moved to the AICC. Sayeed is now expected to accompany the Prime Minister to Washington next month.