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CBI comes under Cabinet Secretariat

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi Jan. 30. Because of reports in a section of the media that the Central Bureau of Investigation had been entrusted to the Union Home Ministry in Wednesday's Cabinet reshuffle, an official spokesman clarified today that the investigative agency had, in fact, been transferred to the Cabinet Secretariat which, in turn, functions under the Prime Minister.

The confusion arose because the Rashtrapati Bhavan communique last night mentioned, correctly, that L.K. Advani would also be Minister for Personnel. The CBI has traditionally been part of the Department of Personnel.

However, it is learnt that it had been made clear to Mr. Advani that he could not be entrusted with the CBI, primarily because of the Ayodhya case. Mr. Advani himself was a party to the decision that the CBI be brought under the Cabinet Secretariat.

This proposed change, however, required an amendment in the Rules of Business, which, in turn, required Presidential consent. The process of amending the Rules of Business began today, with the "file" going to the President for his signature.

Meanwhile, it was felt that the official spokesman should put the record straight before the confusion spread further. This "clarification" itself is being interpreted in many quarters as yet another manifestation of the unresolved power struggle within the Vajpayee Government.

In another significant development, the Government tonight decided to shift the empowered Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPP) from the Commerce and Industry Ministry to the Finance Ministry.

Also, another press communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced the changes/additions in the allocation of portfolios of the following ministers: O. Rajagopal (Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence); Vallabbhai Kathiria (Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development), and Pon Radhakrishnan (Minister of State in the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation).

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