DPJ lawmaker Edano to be tapped as administrative renovation minister

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TOKYO, Feb. 9 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama plans to place Yukio Edano, a lawmaker from his
Democratic Party of Japan, in the post of administrative reform minister,
currently held by national strategy minister Yoshito Sengoku concurrently,
political sources said Tuesday.
An attestation ceremony is expected to take place Wednesday and will bring the
number of Hatoyama's Cabinet ministers to 17, the sources said.
Edano, 45, a sixth-term House of Representatives member, has been a manager of
the government's waste-cutting work.
He was tapped for the post to reduce the workload of Sengoku, who has been
administrative reform minister since the launch of the Hatoyama government in
April and concurrently took the post of national strategy minister from Naoto
Kan last month when Kan replaced Hirohisa Fujii as finance minister.
Edano is known for his critical stance against DPJ Secretary General Ichiro
Ozawa. He is one of a few DPJ members who publicly said the ruling party
kingpin should resign from the party's No. 2 post over a funding scandal
involving his former and current aides.
==Kyodo
2010-02-09 23:50:19