New Delhi : Manmohan Singh was sworn-in as Prime Minister for a second consecutive term at the head of a 20-member team in the first installment of Government formation truncated by the deadlock over portfolios for DMK members.Singh, the first Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to get a second opportunity after a full-term, was sworn-in by President Pratibha Patil exactly five years to date after the UPA Government assumed office in 2004.
Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar, A K Antony and P Chidambaram, already ministers in the outgoing government, were among those who took the oaths of office and secrecy along with new entrants S M Krishna, Mamata Banerjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Veerappa Moily and C P Joshi.In constituting the new government, senior Congress leaders Arjun Singh, H R Bhardwaj, Saifuddin Soz and Sis Ram Ola do not figure in the ministry.
S Jaipal Reddy, Vayalar Ravi, Sushilkumar Shinde, Kamal Nath, Meira Kumar, Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, B K Handique and Murli Deora have retained their berth in the ministry with Sharma and Handique being elevated.The oath taking ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan was attended among others by Vice President Hamid Ansari, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and BJP leader L K Advani. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and service chiefs were also present.
To get the complete list of 'Team Manmohan'
The PMO said that this will be followed in the next few days by another expansion of the Council of Ministers, including Cabinet ministers, ministers of state with independent charge as well as other ministers of state with due representation given to allies.
While Mukherjee may get Finance, Chidambaram and Antony are likely to retain their respective portfolios of Home and Defence.Sources say that former Karnataka CM S M Krishna may be given the External Affairs Ministry.Kapil Sibal is tipped to be the HRD Minister succeeding Arjun Singh, who is likely to get a gubernatorial post.Banerjee is likely to get Railways, while Pawar may retain his Food and Agriculture portfolio.PM is likely to retain the portfolios that he was planning to allocate to the DMK nominees till the differences with the southern ally are sorted out.
On Friday morning, PM Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi called up all the 'prospective ministerial candidates'. Manmohan started the conversation before handing over the phone to Sonia.This is being looked as the direct impact of the Congress-DMK tussle which has ensured that no Minister of State will take oath on Friday.
Although all the DMK MPs will be present in the oath taking ceremony, party chief M Karunanidhi’s absence is being looked upon as an apparent show of protest by the Tamil Nadu CM.
No comments:
Post a Comment