No Cabinet rejig before House session

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was learnt to have decided against effecting any reshuffle in the Union Cabinet before the monsoon session of Parliament....

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was learnt to have decided against effecting any reshuffle in the Union Cabinet before the monsoon session of Parliament. There will be no change in the portfolios of Union Minister Sharad Pawar who had last week requested the Prime Minister to reduce some of his

burden and divest him of Food amp; Civil Supplies portfolio so that he could focus more on party work.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister will re-visit the issue after the monsoon session of Parliament,according to official sources. Apart from the fact that reshuffle was deemed undesirable so close to the Parliament session,a string of other factors were said to have led to the decision to defer any Cabinet reshuffle.

First of all,there were conflicting signals from Pawars camp since he met the Prime Minister on July 5 to express his desire to give up one of his portfolios. That meeting had come amid questions flying from all quarters as to how the new ICC chief would do justice to his ministerial assignment,especially at a time when there is public outcry against food inflation. Soon after that meeting though,his party NCP sought to queer the pitch for the UPA leadership demanding to retain all portfolios allocated to the party under coalition arrangement. The NCP was perceived to be aiming at two Cabinet berths in case of bifurcation of Pawars portfolio.

A few days later,the NCP flexed its muscles again as it announced its plans to form secular democratic fronts in different states and complained about the Congress not giving it space. Except the pending issue of Pawars portfolio,there was no immediate provocation for the party to train its guns at its ally in the UPA. Interestingly,Pawar,who was purportedly awaiting a decision on his portfolios,sent sugar stocks soaring

on Saturday as he hinted at the possibility of decontrolling sugar sector.

Secondly,a Cabinet reshuffle had to be timed together with a revamp in the Congress. Sonia Gandhi was earlier scheduled to be re-elected as Congress president on July 25,but it is set to be delayed by a few weeks due to the delay in completing the organisational elections at the state level. Once re-elected party president,she would re-constitute her team,including the Congress Working Committee as also other organisational posts. With many ministers holding party posts also,she has to take a call on whether to apply one-man-one-post criterion. The organisational revamp is expected to be timed with Cabinet reshuffle as there is set to be transfers of senior party leaders from the government to the party and vice-versa.