New Delhi: In perhaps the last reshuffle and expansion of the Union Council of Ministers, Mallikarjun Kharge was today made the Railways Minister as eight more were inducted with veterans Sis Ram Ola and Oscar Fernandes making a comeback.
71-year-old Kharge, who missed out in the Chief Ministerial race in Karnataka last month, has been compensated with the heavyweight Railway portfolio after being shifted from Labour and Employment. Labour has now been given to Ola, the 86-year-old Jat leader from Rajasthan who gets back the same portfolio he had held in the UPA-I.
Fernandes, who had also been Labour Minister and Sports and Youth Affairs Minister in UPA-I, got Road and Highways Ministry, succeeding C P Joshi who resigned over the weekend.
After yesterday s reshuffle in the party, senior woman leader from election-bound Rajasthan Girija Vyas and K S Rao from Andhra Pradesh were brought in as Cabinet Ministers in today s exercise which was an all-Congress affair.
Three new faces – Santosh Chowdhury, J D Seelam and E N S Nachiappan were made Ministers of State along with veteran Maharashtra leader Manikrao Gavit. With the fresh inductions, the strength of the Union Council of Ministers has gone up to 77.
The oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers was administered by President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and union ministers among others.
Girija Vyas got Housing, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, a portfolio held by Ajay Maken who also had quit on Saturday to work for the party.
K S Rao (69), a five-time MP from coastal Andhra Pradesh who nearly quit Lok Sabha after being ignored in the Cabinet expansion last year, was given the Textiles portfolio.
Among new Ministers of State, Seelam, a former IAS officer, is a dalit face from Andhra Pradesh. He got Finance.
Gavit, 78-year-old tribal leader from Maharashtra and a nine-time MP, has been allotted Social Justice and Empowerment portfolio.
Santosh Chowdhury, a dalit from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, was given Health & Family Welfare Ministry.
Nachiappan, a member of the JPC on 2G scam and a member of the panel of the presiding officers in the Rajya Sabha, was given Commerce and Industry.
The reshuffle was expected for some time after the exit of DMKs six ministers and resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar.
Following is the list of the council of ministers after Monday’s cabinet reshuffle:
– Manmohan Singh: Prime minister, Minster of Personnel and Public Grievances and Pension, Minister of Planning, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space.
– A.K. Antony: Defence minister
– Sharad Pawar: Minister of Agriculture and Food Processing Industries
– P. Chidambaram: Finance minister
– Ghulam Nabi Azad: Minister of Health and Family Welfare
– Sushilkumar Shinde: Minister of Home Affairs
– M. Veerappa Moily: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas
– Farooq Abdullah: Minister of New and Renewable Energy
– S. Jaipal Reddy: Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences
– Kamal Nath: Minister of Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs
– Ajit Singh: Minister of Civil Aviation
– Vayalar Ravi: Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs
– Mallikarjun Kharge: Minister of Railways
– Kapil Sibal: Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Minister of Law and Justice
– Anand Sharma: Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Textiles
– Kumari Selja: Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
– G.K. Vasan: Minister of Shipping
– Praful Patel: Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
– Shriprakash Jaiswal: Minister of Coal
– Salman Khurshid: Minister of External Affairs
– V. Kishore Chandra Deo: Minister of Tribal Affairs, Minister of Panchayati Raj
– Beni Prasad Verma: Minister of Steel
– Jairam Ramesh: Minister of Rural Development
– K. Rahman Khan: Minister of Minority Affairs
– Dinsha J. Patel: Minister of Mines
– M. M. Pallam Raju: Minister of Human Resource Development
– Harish Rawat: Minister of Water Resources
– Chandresh Kumari Katoch: Minister of Culture
– Sisram Ola: Minister for Labour and Employment
– Oscar Fernandes: Minister of Road Transport and Highways
– Girija Vyas: Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
– K.S. Rao: Textiles Minister.
Ministers of State:
– Krishna Tirath: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development
– K.V. Thomas: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
– Srikant Jena: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
– Jayanthi Natrajan: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests
– Paban Singh Ghatowar: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs
– Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power
– K.H. Muniappa: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
– Bharatsinh Solanki: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
– Sachin Pilot: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
– Jitendra Singh: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence
– Manish Tewari: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
– K. Chiranjeevi: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism
– Manikrao Gavit: Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment
– Santosh Chowdhary: Minister of State of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
– E.M.S. Natchiappan: Minister of State of the Ministry for Commerce and Industry
– J.D. Seelam: Minister of State of the Ministry of Finance.
