Cabinet reshuffle: Kodikkunnil, Tharoor tipped to become Union Ministers

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh reshuffled his Cabinet after inducting 22 including seven cabinet ministers, two Ministers of State with independent charge and 13 Ministers of State. Mr. Suresh told the media from Delhi that he had received an invite from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the swearing-in ceremony that is scheduled to take place Sunday morning. Mr. Tharoor’s inclusion in the Ministry is still in the realm of speculation, but there are sufficient hints that he will get another stint in the Union Council of Ministers. Reports from the national capital indicate that the move to induct Mr. Tharoor into the Cabinet has come from the highest level of the Congress.

For Mr. Suresh, who was brought up by his mother braving straitened circumstances after his father’s death when he was a class four student, this will be a big break. He has served as Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) secretary and been discharging duties as convener of SC/ST MPs and also Congress MPs from Kerala. He has all along been a strong camp follower of Mr. Antony. Mr. Suresh’s election to the Lok Sabha from the Mavelikara reserved constituency in 2009 had come under a serious question when the Kerala High Court declared the election void over a question of his caste. However, a Division Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising present Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice A.K. Patnaik, reversed the High Court’s judgment. If the two Congress MPs get the nod, Kerala would get its biggest ever contingent of eight in the Union Ministry. The State now has six members in the Union Ministry, two of them—A.K. Antony and Vayalar Ravi—Cabinet Ministers. Five of the present Ministers are from the Congress and one from the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML). If Mr. Suresh and Mr. Tharoor are inducted, the number of Congress Ministers from the State will go up to seven. Some changes in the portfolios being held by Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Union Ministers of State K.V. Thomas, and K.C. Venugopal are also being talked about, but there is as yet no confirmation of this. Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor and MP from Thiruvananthapuram and five-time Member of Parliament Kodikkunnil Suresh from Mavelikkara were inducted into the Union Council of Ministers. After the induction of the two, the state has got the biggest ever contingent of eight in the union ministry.

Mr. Tharoor, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the second UPA Cabinet, was forced to submit his resignation on April 18, 2010, following his involvement in the controversy over the Indian Premier League (IPL) Kochi franchisee. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked him to tender his resignation amid mounting political pressure over the controversy. If he does get to be sworn in, it would be a major reversal of fortunes for him. Shashi Tharoor was given Human Resource Development and Kodikkunnil Suresh Labour & Employment.

The seven cabinet ministers sworn were K Rahman Khan, Dinsha Patel, Ajay Maken, Pallam Raju, Aswini Kumar, Harish Rawat and Chandresh Kumari Katoch. Of the seven new ministers sworn in with Cabinet rank, only two are new faces. The rest, including Ajay Maken and MM Pallam Raju, have been elevated from minister of state rank. Manish Tiwari and Chiranjeevi were sworn in as Ministers of State with independent charge.

Other Ministers of State sworn in are Tariq Anwar, K Jayasurya Prakash Reddy, Rani Nara, Adeer Ranjan Choudhary, A H Khan Chaudhary, Sarvey Satya Narayana, Ninong Iring, Deepadas Munshi, Porika Balram Naik, Kriparani Killi and Lalchand. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A K Antony, Vice President Hamid Ansari, ministers, opposition leader Sushma Swaraj and many others attended the function.