In a major reshuffle and expansion of Council of Ministers , three Ministers – Praful Patel, Shriprakash Jaiswal and Salman Khursheed have been elevated to the Cabinet rank while two new faces - Beniprasad Verma and K C Venugopal have been inducted. A former Minister Ashwini Kumar makes a comeback in the UPA's second stint.
They were administered oath of office by the President Mrs Pratibha Devi Singh Patil at a simple ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. Changes recommended by the Prime Minister in the portfolio allocation are:-
Praful Patel shifted from Civil Aviation, gets Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. Vayalar Ravi who is the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs will get the Additional Charge of Civil Aviation.
Salman Khursheed will be the Water Resources Minister with additional charge of Minority Affairs.
Kamal Nath, who was the Road Transport and Highways Minister has been given Urban Development.
C.P. Joshi who was Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has been given Road Transport and Highways while Vilasrao Deshmukh will be the Rural Development Minister with additional charge of Panchayati Raj.
Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy gets Petroleum and Natural Gas, whereas Murli Deora who earlier held this charge will now get Corporate Affairs.
Kapil Sibal retains Human Resource Development with additional charge of Communication and Information Technology.
Sharad Pawar sheds Food and Public Distribution & Consumer Affairs and retains Agriculture. He also gets Food Processing Industries.
Prof. K. V. Thomas gets Independent Charge of Food and Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs as MoS.
Mr. B. K. Handique has been divested of Mines portfolio but retains the charge of Development of North Eastern Region.
MoS Home Ajay Maken to get Independent Charge of Youth Affairs and Sports while M.S. Gill has been given Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Steel Minister Vir Bhadra Sinh now shifts to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises whereas the inductee Beni Prasad Verma has been given the independent charge of Steel Ministry as MoS.
K.C. Venugopal, the other new face, to get portfolio of Minister of State for Power.
Mr. Ashvini Kumar has made a come back as the Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences.
Km. Selja has been divested of the charge of Tourism which will be looked after now by Subodh Kant Sahai. She also gets additional charge of Culture.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal will hold the additional charge of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences but the Ministry of Water Resources has been taken away from him.
Mr. Dinsha Patel gets Independent Charge as MoS Mines.
The other changes effected in portfolio allocation of Ministers of State are:
E. Ahmed who was Minister of State for Railways will now be MoS for External Affairs.
Bharat Sinh Solanki will hold the charge of Railways.
Gurudas Kamat will be the Minister of State for Home in place of Ajay Maken.
Harish Rawat will be the for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries.
Jitin Prasada will be Road Transport and Highways,
A. Sai Pratap- Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
Mahadev S. Khandela, Tribal Affairs,
Tusharbhai Chaudhary-Road Transport and Highways
Arun Yadav-Agriculture and Food Processing Industries
Pratik Prakashbapu Patil - Coal.
R.P.N. Singh, Petyroleum and Natural Gas and Corporate Affairs
V. Narayanasamy will retain Parliamentary Affairs and Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Prime Minister's Office.
Mr Murli Deora, who was moved from petroleum ministry to Corporate Affairs, said, he is not at all disappointed. Admitting that there have been six times fuel price hikes in the last one year, Mr Deora said oil companies are bleeding.
Praful Patel who has been given Cabinet rank but has moved from Civil Aviation to Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises expressed his happiness at elevation. He said he has done a lot of work in aviation sector.
Jitin Prasad who has moved as Minister of State from Petroleum to Roads, said, he will try and focus in rural areas especially Uttar Pradesh.
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