Cabinet reshuffle likely on Tuesday

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will go in for the much-awaited reshuffle of the Union Cabinet on Tuesday evening, official sources told rediff.com in New Delhi.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee is most likely to be named the new external affairs minister. The prime minister had been holding charge of this ministry after K Natwar Singh quit following his being named in the Volcker report that investigated the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal last December.

Sources said Mukherjee was not too keen to take charge of the foreign ministry but was convinced to do so by Dr Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

There are also several names doing the rounds to replace Mukherjee in the defence ministry. Maharashtra Governor and former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh and Union Power Minister  Sushilkumar Shinde are among those.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi have held consultations on the exercise that may take place in the next few days.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram may not be disturbed from his present portfolio.

Mukherjee has emerged as the frontrunner for the external affairs slot in view of his experience in the government and his own earlier stint in the ministry during Narasimha Rao's regime.

On his part, Mukherjee told reporters on Monday that it is the prime minister's prerogative to make changes in the Cabinet and for him external affairs was not a new subject.

The first hint of an impending reshuffle was given by the prime minister on Friday when he said there would be "minor changes" in his Cabinet and that a new external affairs minister will be in place "as soon as possible".

However, he had preferred not not to comment when asked whether the changes would be made from within the existing Council of Ministers or with inductions from outside.

Mukherjee, who is Leader of the House in Lok Sabha, is also wearing many hats. Besides being the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief, he is also a member of the all powerful Congress Core Group, heads or is part of several important Cabinet committees and GoMs.

There have been vacancies in the Council of Ministers following the exit of Telangana Rashtra Samithi supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao from the labour ministry, and his colleague A Narendra (minister of state for rural development). Jaiprakash Narain Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal from Bihar had resigned few months back following a controversy.

PTI adds:

Former Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony is being inducted into the Union Cabinet on Tuesday evening, which could also see the elevation of Minister without portfolio Oscar Fernandes to Cabinet rank and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee move to External Affairs.

Antony himself confirmed his induction into the Cabinet by saying: "I have got the invitation to join the government. Regarding the portfolio I do not know anything. It is for the Prime Minister to say."