Thackeray stamp all over Cabinet reshuffle

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had his way yet again with the Centre: as per script, the Prime Minister today allotted the Power ministry to Sena leader Ananth Geete to replace Suresh Prabhu, who had resigned last week. Stepping in to replace Geete, who was handling banking, insurance and expenditure in the Finance ministry, was another Sena MP, Anandrao V Adsul.

Another surprise in today’s reshuffle was Uma Bharati: she was moved from sports to coal and mines, which had been held by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. The move effectively ended speculation on two fronts: that Uma would be sent off to Bhopal to head the Madhya Pradesh unit, and that Mamata Banerjee would be re-inducted into the Cabinet.

Uma’s portfolio has been allotted to Rajya Sabha MP Vikram Verma, a BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh. Verma is said to be close to Advani, and is related to former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma. With today’s reshuffle, the Cabinet’s strength now stands at 78.