Jairam loses Envnmt, Moily Law in Cabinet rejig; Kamat quits

New Delhi, Jul 12 (PTI) Seven ministers were dropped,
controversial Jairam Ramesh was promoted but shifted from the
high-profile Environment Ministry and Veerappa Moily from Law
in a substantive reshuffle of the Union Cabinet on Tuesday
which was marred by the resignation of Gurudas Kamat who quit
within hours of being elevated as Minister of State with
Independent Charge.
Even after the much-talked about reshuffle, several
ministers continued to hold additional charge of some key
portfolios.
Significantly, after carrying out the revamp, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh said this was the last reshuffle
before the next Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian Parliament)
elections although he made it clear that he has kept two slots
vacant for DMK (Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam) whose two
ministers resigned under a cloud.
Singh did not touch the 'big four' -- Finance, Home,
Defence and External Affairs -- and also kept four ministries,
including Telecom and Civil Aviation, as additional charge.
Ramesh, who stoked controversies by his handling of
environment portfolio with his proactive approach, gets Rural
Development from where Vilasrao Deshmukh has been shifted to
Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.
In another significant change, Singh also took away Law
portfolio from M Veerappa Moily in the light of several
embarrassments to the government in the Supreme Court and
brought Salman Khursheed in the ministry.
Against this backdrop, Moily, who was shifted to
Corporate Affairs, was visibly agitated when he said that the
Law Ministry could not be blamed for "the sins of
administrative ministries".
Moily said: "For the sins of administrative ministries,
the Law Ministry cannot be hanged." These cases were the fault
of the administrative ministries, he said.
"It has nothing to do with... the law officers are only
the face of the government in the court," he said apparently
answering critics that his ministry had failed the government
in the Courts.
In the other discomfiture to the government, Kamat, a
five-time MP and MoS in Home and Communication, resigned
apparently unhappy over not being elevated to the Cabinet
rank.
His resignation came within hours of his being elevated
as MoS with Independent Charge with the newly created ministry
of Drinking Water and Sanitation. He chose to keep away from
the swearing-in ceremony and left for Mumbai after writing to
the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Trinamool Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi has been
elevated to the Cabinet rank and given the Railways portfolio
left vacant by Mamata Banerjee after she became West Bengal
Chief Minister.
Beni Prasad Verma becomes a Cabinet Minister for Steel, a
portfolio he earlier held as Minister of State with
Independent charge.
The eight new entrants and three others who were elevated
to Cabinet rank were sworn-in by President Pratibha Patil at a
function in Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of a host of
dignitaries including Vice President Hamid Ansari, the Prime
Minister, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of
Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
With Tuesday's changes, the strength of the Union Council
of Ministers goes up to 68 with eight inclusions and seven
resignations.
The other new faces in the Council of Ministers are
Jayanthi Natarajan who gets Environment and Forests, Dibrugarh
MP Paban Singh Ghatowar (DONER), Trinamool Congress leader
Sudip Bandopadhyaya (Health and Family Welfare), Alwar MP
Jitendra Singh (Home), Milind Deora (Communication and IT) and
Rajiv Shukla (Parliamentary Affairs).
Tuesday's exercise left another minister Srikant Jena not
entirely satisfied over his elevation as Minister of State
with Independent charge. However, he attended the ceremony.
Talking to reporters after the swearing-in of the 11
ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Singh said the resuffle
reflects a "balance necessary between various states,
consideration of efficiency, consideration of continuity" in
the government.
"As far as I am concerned this is the last reshuffle
before we go to polls (in 2014)," he said, adding "This
exercise is as comprehensive as possible."
Asked whether he anticipated problems after the resuffle
because of some ministers being unhappy, Singh said, "there
are bound to be problems when there is some redistribution of
portfolios. We have taken into account the best interests of
the country."