PM, Sonia meet amid talk of Cabinet reshuffle

New Delhi/Chennai, Jul 9 (PTI) Indian National
Congress President Sonia Gandhi Saturday met Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh giving further momentum to the talk of
an imminent Cabinet reshuffle possible early next week.
The meeting this morning comes in the aftermath of
resignation of Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran and the offer
of resignation by Corporate Affairs Minister Murli Deora,
apparently lending a sense of urgency to the long speculated
exercise of restructuring of the Union Council of Ministers.
Singh-Gandhi meeting also came even as senior party
leader Pranab Mukherjee met Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK)
chief Karunanidhi in south Indian city Chennai and discussed
the current political situation.
It was not clear whether the DMK would be sending
replacements for Maran and former telecom minister A Raja, who
both had to quit on the 2G issue. Reports had it that the DMK
may not be keen on such replacements immediately.
Mukherjee merely said, "There is a lot of speculation
whether the alliance between Congress and DMK is continuing or
not.
"My respectful submission is this alliance is there,
the alliance will continue and it will be strengthened."
There has been speculation for a long time about the
cabinet expansion and reshuffle as the Prime Minister himself
had spoken about a "more expansive exercise" after he
undertook a rejig of the Cabinet in January.
In his recent interaction with print editors, Singh
had said the the reshuffle of the Cabinet was a "work in
progress".
There are a number of vacancies in the Union Cabinet
like Railways, following resignation of Mamata Banerjee who
became eastern Indian state West Bengal chief minister, and
Textiles in the wake of Dayanidhi Maran's resignation on the
2G issue.
There are a number of ministers holding dual charge
like Kapil Sibal who has Telecom and HRD. P K Bansal handles
portfolios of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences
and Parliamentary Affairs.
Elevation of some of the ministers particularly from
Uttar Pradesh which is goes to polls next year is expected.
There is also possibility of dropping some ministers
considered to be non-performing.
Mukherjee parried a pointed question whether he had
discussed with Karunanidhi the issue of DMK giving names of
its leaders to replace Maran and Raja.
Indian Law Minister M Veerappa Moily expressed
confidence he would continue in the ministry.
"Do you have any doubt about it," he told reporters
when asked whether he would continue in the government after
the proposed reshuffle.
He said reshuffle was the prerogative of the Prime
Minister and he had no no comments on it.
Meanwhile, Sibal met the Prime Minister Saturday. PTI
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