Cabinet reshuffle in Sept,Sheila may move to Centre

Adding to this is the Congress’s preference for a political person in the Finance Ministry,who could understand and respond to the party’s requirements while presenting what will be the last full Budget of the UPA next year.

Maintaining said that Home Minister P Chidambaram fits the bill,Congress sources said that if he is asked to move to Finance,Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit could be in the reckoning to fill up his slot. The PM is keen to induct Dikshit in the Union Cabinet,said sources. It is,however,not clear if the CM would be interested in moving to the Centre.

While the Congress’s heir apparent Rahul Gandhi has finally decided to play a larger role and is keeping both options — of joining the government and taking bigger organisational responsibility — open,the party high command is undecided with the party split down the middle on this issue. A day after Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh stated that Rahul should work for the party as there is no vacancy for the PM’s post,Uttarakhand CM Vijay Bahuguna on Sunday countered it saying that Rahul must work for both the party and the government as even his grandmother late Indira Gandhi had been Information & Broadcasting Minister. “It is high time that he takes the job (ministership) and also takes charge of the party,of course,under Sonia Gandhi. He will get exposure to how the government is run as he will be a party to all Cabinet decisions. It will be a great learning experience. It will also help us to project him in future,after Manmohan Singhji has had his innings,” Bahuguna told The Indian Express.

The large-scale Cabinet reshuffle in September is set to give more representation to the DMK in the Union Cabinet. Sources said that the DMK is keen to fill up its quota — following vacancies created by the resignation of A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran — as a result of which T R Baalu looks set to return to the Union Cabinet.

The NCP’s latest onslaught against the Congress on the issue of coalition dharma may also lead to changes in the portfolios of NCP ministers. The NCP is planning to drop Union Minister of State Agatha Sangma from the Council of Ministers but it is not yet clear whether Supriya Sule would replace her or NCP chief Sharad Pawar would deny her claims because he is said to have reservations against both father and daughter being in the government.

Digvijaya better PM material than Rahul,says Govindacharya

Patna: Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan founder and patron K N Govindacharya on Sunday said Congress leader Digvijaya Singh would prove to be a better prime minister than Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi. “Digvijaya Singh will be far better as PM than Rahul Gandhi,” he told reporters here. “…. Digvijaya Singh has been minister in the Union government and chief minister of a big state and thus he has a vast administrative experience,” he said. But he didn’t think Rahul Gandhi will at all become PM as “he has proved to be an unsuccessful cartridge”,Govindacharya said without elaborating further. “However whether Rahul would become a PM or not is an internal affair of the Congress,” he added.

PTI