The Hindu : Thakur quits, Mamata 'insists' on Rlys

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 01, 2002

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Thakur quits, Mamata 'insists' on Rlys

By Harish Khare

C.P.Thakur

NEW DELHI JUNE 30. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, is all set to reshuffle his Cabinet on Monday evening, after having already named the Union Home Minister, Lal Kishen Advani, as his Deputy Prime Minister. The new entrants to the Cabinet are scheduled to take oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

However, till late this evening the Prime Minister was still fine-tuning the final composition of his "reshuffled'' team. Mr. Vajpayee had two rounds of discussion with his senior colleagues, once in the morning and again later in the evening. Many "decisions" taken over the last few days have been reopened. For example, till yesterday the departure of the Urban Development Minister, Ananth Kumar, for organisation was deemed to have been a settled issue; today, the decision was reportedly put on hold.

Gujarat angle

However, the proposed swap between the Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha and the Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, was still on. On the other hand, the former Gujarat Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel, has reportedly declined to join the Cabinet; though Mr. Patel has cited "health reasons'', there seems to be a Gujarat angle to the affair.

Mr. Vajpayee also invited the Trinamool Congress president, Mamata Banerjee, for a discussion. Ms. Banerjee is reportedly still insistent on getting back the railways portfolio. After a 40-minute meeting with the Prime Minister, the Trinamool Congress leader insisted that there was no discussion on any specific portfolio. On the other hand, the Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar, was reported to have told newsmen in Patna that he was unaware of any move to take the portfolio away from him. It is believed that Ms. Banerjee has been told that she could not hope to get back the railways, and it was up to her to decide whether she still wanted to join the Government (along with the post of a Minister of State for her nominee).

The outgoing BJP president, Jana Krishnamurthi, also met the Prime Minister. It is not yet known whether Mr. Krishnamurthi agreed to accept his designated successor, Venkiah Naidu's portfolio of Rural Development. (The latter put in his papers today, according to PTI.) The Health Minister, C.P.Thakur, has sent in his resignation, though he is on record having suggested that the "gutka'' lobby was responsible for his ouster.

The Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, who is slated take up an organisational assignment, also sent in his resignation today. The Minister of State for Coal, Ravi Shanker Prasad, is penciled in as his successor, as of now.

For most of the day there was speculation that the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sushma Swaraj, could lose her Ministry; however, by the end of the evening, she seemed to have warded off any hostile takeover.

Two film stars, Shatrugun Sinha and Vinod Khanna, are favourites for berths in the Council of Ministers, as are two nominees from the PMK.

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