Skip to main content

Manmohan Singh readies council of ministers, Manipur missed out again

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS): After three days of intense negotiations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's new coalition government took final shape Wednesday with 78 ministers including 33 in the cabinet and with the Congress party accounting for three quarters of the three-tier ministry.
The selection of ministers -- a blend of youth and experience, first-time winners and veterans -- showed the touch of an assertive Manmohan Singh who was clear who he wanted in the government and who should be kept out. Congress president Sonia Gandhi gave him her full backing. 
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi finally did not make it -- on his own choice, disappointing many in the Congress who wanted to see his stamp in the government too.
With the average age of the ministers put at 57, Agatha Sangma, daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, is the youngest at age 27. The oldest is External affairs minister S.M. Krishna (77), one of 19 cabinet ministers who took oath May 22 and one of only six seniors who have got their portfolios. 
The notable omissions in the cabinet list are H.R. Bhardwaj, Shivraj Patil, Arjun Singh, Sis Ram Ola, P.R. Kyndiah and Saifuddin Soz.The 78-strong council of ministers includes 59 from the Congress and 19 from five allies: seven each from DMK and Trinamool Congress, three from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and one each from the Muslim League and National Conference. 
The outgoing Congress-led government had 78 ministers, with 23 allies. 
This time nine women have become ministers, one less than in 2004. While Mamata Banerjee, Ambika Soni and Meira Kumar have taken oath of office, six more names were announced Wednesday. 
Nineteen cabinet ministers, including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and NCP's Sharad Pawar, were sworn in May 22. Fourteen will take oath Thursday morning along with 45 ministers of state, seven of whom will hold independent charge. 
The new cabinet ministers include three former chief ministers - Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh), Vilasrao Deshmukh (Maharashtra) and Farooq Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir). 
Three leaders from DMK have got in - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's son M.K. Azhagiri, Dayanidhi Maran and A. Raja. 
The others are from the Congress: Mallikarjun Kharge, Kumari Selja, Subodh Kant Sahay, M.S. Gill, G.K. Vasan, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mukul Wasnik and Kantilal Bhuria. 
The ministers of state with independent charge are NCP's Praful Patel as well as Prithviraj Chavan, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Salman Khurshid, Jairam Ramesh, Krishna Tirath and Dinsha Patel (all Congress). 
The 38 other ministers of state are E. Ahamed, V. Narayanasamy, Srikant Jena, Mullappally Ramachandran, D. Purandeswari, Panabaka Lakshmi, Ajay Maken, K.H. Muniyappa, Namo Narain Meena, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasad, A. Sai Prathap, Gurudas Kamat, M.M. Pallam Raju, Mahadev Khandela, Harish Rawat, K.V. Thomas, Saugata Ray, Dinesh Trivedi, Sisir Adhikari, Sultan Ahmed, Mukul Roy, Mohan Jatua, S.S. Palanimanickam, D. Napoleon, S. Jagathrakshakan, S. Gandhiselvan, Preneet Kaur, Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Bharatsinh Solanki, Tusharbhai Chaudhary, Arun Yadav, Prateek Prakashbapu Patil, R.P.N. Singh, Vincent Pala, Pradeep Jain and Agatha Sangma. 
Of these, E. Ahamed is from the Muslim League; the Trinamool Congress is represented by Saugata Ray, Dinesh Trivedi, Sisir Adhikari, Sultan Ahmed, Mukul Roy and Mohan Jatua; the DMK's four-member brigade comprises S.S. Palanimanickam, D. Napoleon, S. Jagathrakshakan and S. Gandhiselvan; the NCP's lone member is Agatha Sangma. 
As many as 29 MPs - veterans included - will make their debut as central ministers. These include Vilasrao Deshmukh and Farooq Abdullah, former UN undersecretary general Shashi Tharoor as well as three women MPs - Agatha Sangma, Krishna Tirath and Preneet Kaur. 
The others are Mallikarjun Kharge, M.K. Azhagiri, A. Sai Prathap, Gurudas Kamat, Mahadev Khandela, Harish Rawat, K.V. Thomas, Saugata Ray, Sisir Adhikari, Sultan Ahmed, Mukul Roy, Mohan Jatua, D. Napoleon, S. Jagathrakshakan, S. Gandhiselvan, Sachin Pilot, Bharatsinh Solanki, Tusharbhai Chaudhary, Arun Yadav, Prateek Prakashbapu Patil, R.P.N Singh, Vincent Pala and Pradeep Jain. 
In the last council of ministers, there were 30 cabinet ministers, including eight from allies; ministers of state with independent charge comprised seven from the Congress and one from NCP; there were 26 from the Congress and 14 from allies among the 40 ministers of state. 
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have five ministers each in the 33-member cabinet. Three of Delhi's seven MPs are in the government: Kapil Sibal, Ajay Maken and Krishna Tirath. However, Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress won an incredible 21 seats, finds no representation. 
Tamil Nadu's total representation in the council of ministers will be 10 -- three from Congress and seven from DMK.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

KYKL clarifies on killing of Prof Islamuddin

IMPHAL, May 30: The underground KYKL in a lengthy clarification on the matter of its killing Prof. Islamuddin of the Manipur University, said it understands the outrage of the public in the killing of a teacher, but is saddened by the response of Meitei Pangal organisations that the KYKL had targeted a Meitei Pangal deliberately. It said this was far from the truth and that the KYKL treats Meitei Pangals, Meitei Chistians, Meitei Buddists, Meitei Hindus, Meitei Athiests as belonging to one Meitei community, and this is very much enshrined in its constitution. It said Prof. Islamuddin was killed not because of his ethnicity or community but because he was part of a corrupt clique which was usurping all powers of the Manipur University in order to convert the university into their private fiefdom. It said the KYKL has Meitei Pangal cadres in it and the Meitei Pangal community would realise the party is never against this fraternal community at all in time. It said the MU clique had to be

Two slain, police claim one was NNC other PULF

IMPHAL, May 27: The family of a slain man today refused to receive his dead body lying at the morgue refuting the police charge that the person was a militant and killed in an encounter on Sunday night.Police said the identity of the youth killed by Imphal west commandos late evening on Saturday at Langol Tarung village was established today as that of a member of the Naga National Council (NNC).In another protest rally over the killing of another youth Md Abdul Wahid, 29, from Porompat Thawanthaba Leikai in Imphal east, protesters rubbished the police allegations against the slain youth insisting he was an innocent man.Earlier a sit-in protest was also staged by the local womenfolk under the banner of the JAC against the Brutal Killing of Md WahidMention may be made that a youth who was later identified as one Md Abdul Wahid, 29, son of Md Barik hailing from Porompat Muslim Leikai was shot dead by a team of Imphal east commandos at Keirao Manjor Leikai under Irilbung police station o

Overgrounds’ pre-requisite

By Oken Jeet Sandham The recent stepped-up abductions, factional clashes and killings among the Naga underground factions have not only greatly disturbed the relative peace but also threatened the peace process. For quite some time, the NSCN (IM) and Unification Group have been trading charges each other for the prevailing insecure environment particularly in and around Dimapur area. One should not forget that both NSCN (IM) and NSCN (K) are currently in truce with the Government of India. In the past too, there have been allegations of violation of Cease Fire Ground Rules (CFGRs) by cadres of both NSCN (IM) and the NSCN (K), while the leaders of both the factions also cast aspersions to the Indian Security Forces for having violated CFGRs. Both factions also accused the Indian Security Forces of working hand in glove with either side. On many occasions, the grey areas in the CFGRs have been highlighted. Even the chairman of the ministerial team of the government of India for political