If the long-awaited Cabinet reshuffle takes place on coming Sunday, it’s not so much because the top two of the UPA dispensation - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and coalition chairperson Sonia Gandhi - have finally got their act together, but because October 28 is a day when President Pranab Mukherjee will be available after a long while.
What has also added fuel to the speculation going on for weeks is that Andhra star-turned-politician Chiranjeevi has been asked to “make himself available’’ in Delhi for the next few days. The expectation being that he’s getting inducted into the Cabinet.
Sources also hinted that the Cabinet rejig got postponed as the Congress top-brass tried to persuade DMK chief M Karunanidhi to nominate someone from his party for a slot in the Cabinet. However, it seems the southern ally had decided to play hard ball.
Apart from one Cabinet minister and six junior ministers’ slots which got vacant after the Trinamool Congress’ exit from the UPA government, two Cabinet slots - IT-Telecom and Textiles - (earlier with DMK ministers A.Raja and Dayanidhi Maran) are also held as additional charges by Congress ministers Kapil Sibal and Anand Sharma.
Not that the Congress is going to hand over the infrastructure ministries, which includes Railways and IT-Telecom, to its UPA allies, it would still want the DMK entrenched in the Cabinet. Sources say that it will lessen the party’s ability to indulge in fence-sitting activities in Parliament when it meets for the winter session.
The government is expected to face much political flak, even a confidence motion, in the House on FDI-in-retail and other economic reforms and is, therefore, keen on keeping the UPA flock firmly tied to its apron strings.
It has been said that the big five ministers are not been disturbed, but sources in the External Affairs Ministry say that some crucial appointments have been held up in view of the Cabinet reshuffle.