ID :
156063
Thu, 01/06/2011 - 08:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/156063
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Odds of Kan reshuffling Cabinet high+
TOKYO, Jan. 5 Kyodo - Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is struggling to avoid policy gridlock during the forthcoming Diet session, held talks Wednesday with two ruling party heavyweights on parliamentary management including a possible reshuffle of his
Cabinet and party leadership, sources close to the matter said.
Before meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku and Democratic
Party of Japan Secretary General Katsuya Okada at a Tokyo hotel, Kan told
reporters at his office that he is ''giving much thought'' to the reshuffle.
Kan, whose support ratings are in tatters, is considering replacing Sengoku and
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi, against
both of whom the opposition-controlled House of Councillors passed nonbinding
censure motions in November, according to the sources.
The reshuffle will likely take place in the period after Jan. 13, when the DPJ
plans to hold a general meeting, and before the ordinary parliamentary session
commences in late January.
Names being floated as possible candidates to succeed Sengoku are Defense
Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Tatsuo Kawabata, chairman of the House of
Representatives' Rules and Administration Committee.
Earlier Wednesday, Kitazawa, who met Kan for about an hour Tuesday night, said
at a press conference, ''It is possible that some people may move out of the
Cabinet and some others may enter the Cabinet from the DPJ.''
Speculation is rife that Sengoku, one of the most powerful members of the
Cabinet, will take up one of the senior posts of the ruling party. But the
sources said a major reshuffle is unlikely.
Kitazawa said he believes persistent calls from opposition parties for Sengoku
to resign have become a major stumbling block for Kan to convene the 150-day
Diet session, which is expected to begin in January but the schedule for which
has yet to be fixed due to political posturing between the ruling and
opposition parties.
Opposition parties have vowed to boycott Diet deliberations unless Sengoku
leaves the Cabinet.
Sengoku, meanwhile, criticized the opposition camp for threatening to boycott
deliberations on the pretext of the censure motion.
He said at a news conference that the Liberal Democratic Party and other
opposition parties could ''lose public trust'' if they continued to act
according to partisan interests, instead of addressing issues critical to Japan
in the Diet.
Sengoku also said that Kan's Cabinet is trusted by the public as the DPJ holds
a majority in the more powerful House of Representatives.
In his meeting with Sengoku and Okada, Kan is also believed to have discussed
the fate of former DPJ chief Ichiro Ozawa, who is embroiled in a political
funds scandal and has expressed his intention to appear before a parliamentary
ethics panel to explain the matter.
Kan told reporters earlier that there was no change in his view, expressed at a
press conference Tuesday, that Ozawa should resign as a lawmaker if he is
indicted over suspected accounting irregularities by his political funds
management body.
==Kyodo
Cabinet and party leadership, sources close to the matter said.
Before meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku and Democratic
Party of Japan Secretary General Katsuya Okada at a Tokyo hotel, Kan told
reporters at his office that he is ''giving much thought'' to the reshuffle.
Kan, whose support ratings are in tatters, is considering replacing Sengoku and
Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Sumio Mabuchi, against
both of whom the opposition-controlled House of Councillors passed nonbinding
censure motions in November, according to the sources.
The reshuffle will likely take place in the period after Jan. 13, when the DPJ
plans to hold a general meeting, and before the ordinary parliamentary session
commences in late January.
Names being floated as possible candidates to succeed Sengoku are Defense
Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Tatsuo Kawabata, chairman of the House of
Representatives' Rules and Administration Committee.
Earlier Wednesday, Kitazawa, who met Kan for about an hour Tuesday night, said
at a press conference, ''It is possible that some people may move out of the
Cabinet and some others may enter the Cabinet from the DPJ.''
Speculation is rife that Sengoku, one of the most powerful members of the
Cabinet, will take up one of the senior posts of the ruling party. But the
sources said a major reshuffle is unlikely.
Kitazawa said he believes persistent calls from opposition parties for Sengoku
to resign have become a major stumbling block for Kan to convene the 150-day
Diet session, which is expected to begin in January but the schedule for which
has yet to be fixed due to political posturing between the ruling and
opposition parties.
Opposition parties have vowed to boycott Diet deliberations unless Sengoku
leaves the Cabinet.
Sengoku, meanwhile, criticized the opposition camp for threatening to boycott
deliberations on the pretext of the censure motion.
He said at a news conference that the Liberal Democratic Party and other
opposition parties could ''lose public trust'' if they continued to act
according to partisan interests, instead of addressing issues critical to Japan
in the Diet.
Sengoku also said that Kan's Cabinet is trusted by the public as the DPJ holds
a majority in the more powerful House of Representatives.
In his meeting with Sengoku and Okada, Kan is also believed to have discussed
the fate of former DPJ chief Ichiro Ozawa, who is embroiled in a political
funds scandal and has expressed his intention to appear before a parliamentary
ethics panel to explain the matter.
Kan told reporters earlier that there was no change in his view, expressed at a
press conference Tuesday, that Ozawa should resign as a lawmaker if he is
indicted over suspected accounting irregularities by his political funds
management body.
==Kyodo
