The new ministers

Minister of State Independent charge,Steel

While MoS Independent charge,Steel,may be considered a demotion for Beni Prasad Verma,who was Cabinet Minister in the United Front government in 1996,his acceptance is seen as the Congresss attempt to counter SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadavs claim of being the lone champion of backward castes in Uttar Pradesh. His secular credentials will prove useful for the Congress to wean away Mulayams minority support base.

Verma has emerged as a prominent non-Yadav backward caste leader in UP. Earlier with the SP,he fell out with Mulayam over the issue of Amar Singhs rise in the party. He joined Congress in the run-up to the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and won from Gonda constituency.

His clout in his pocketborough of Barabanki came to the fore during the 1991 Assembly elections when,despite his party managing to win only 34 seats in the face of the BJP wave,Verma ensured that his party retained all the six seats in his area. His presence in the SP contributed to the Kurmi-Yadav factor in northeastern Uttar Pradesh.

Ashwani Kumar

Minister of State,Parliamentary Affairs; Science amp; Technology,Earth Sciences

With todays induction into the Union Council of Minister,former Minister of State for Industry Ashwani Kumar makes a return to the Manmohan Singh government,albeit after a gap of almost one-and-a-half years. A designated senior advocate,Kumar was an Additional Solicitor General of India in the early 90s. A two-time Rajya Sabha member of the Congress,Kumar was also spokesperson of the party.

Hailing from Gurdaspur district of Punjab,58-year-old Ashwani Kumar was a strong contender for the party ticket for Gurdaspur constituency against actor Vinod Khanna. However,while Kumar didnt get the party nod,Khanna was defeated by Partap Singh Bajwa of the Congress.

Coming from a family of politicians,Kumars father Prabodh Chandra was Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Recently,Kumar was chairman of the parliamentary committee that scrutinised the Anti-Torture Bill and suggested changes to it.

Wooing the nairs

K C venugopal

Minister of State,Power

A first-time Lok Sabha member,K C Venugopal hails from the CPM stronghold of Kannur. Born in 1963,he was thrice elected as MLA from Alappuzha,before he resigned to contest the LS elections in 2009. He was earlier a Cabinet Minister in the Oomen Chandy government in Kerala.

His induction in the Council of Ministers ahead of the

Kerala elections is seen as a bid to woo the influential Nair community in the state,given that he is said to have the backing of the Nair Service Society in state. Venugopal,who started off as a Karunakaran loyalist,is close to KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala. A graduate in Law and post-graduate in Mathematics,he was Kerala Students Union president 1987-92,before taking charge as state Youth Congress president,a post he held till 2000.