Sonia bowls a googly

Trust Sonia Gandhi to spring a few political surprises. If the Queen Bee of Congress stumped one and all by refusing to take on Prime Ministership four years ago, yesterday she played another trump card by leaving out her son and Gen Next Gandhi out of the expanded Union Cabinet."I wanted him to be included in the Council of Ministers, but he refused" was her terse comment when the media questioned Sonia Gandhi about the cabinet expansion and inclusion of only two youth leaders in a list of seven additions.

The UPA Chairperson also bowled a googly by resisting coalition pressures that dictated the inclusion of DMK supremo Muthuvel Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi and her good friend Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP honcho Sharad Pawar into the expanded council of ministers which is now 80-strong. Of these 40 are Ministers of State, 32 hold Cabinet rank and eight have Independent Charge of their fiefdoms.Sonia Gandhi blamed the same coalition politics for failing to have more young guns in the council of ministers while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said it was a suggestion for future action.

Blend of youth and experience

As for the new group of ministers, it is a mixture of youth and experience, though loyalty to the party has obviously been the guiding principle behind each of the new inductions.If Puducherry (Pondicherry) veteran V Narayanasamy was rewarded for his vocal defence of his party in the Rajya Sabha, Ramesh Oraon and Santosh Bagrodia have been included keeping in view the vote banks they represent in the states of Jharkhand and Rajasthan.In fact youth leader Sachin Pilot probably missed out because of Bagrodia who is considered a better bet across Rajasthan due to his industrialist status as compared to Pilot who, like his father Rajesh Pilot, is a Jat politician from Dausa.The induction of Jyotiraditya Scindia was a foregone conclusion as was that of Jiten Prasada, son of the late Jitendra Prasada, a man whose loyalty to Number Ten (10, Janpath) was known even during the Gandhi family's political ostracisation between 1991-96.Finally, the induction of RJD leader Raghunath Jha proves that Sonia Gandhi wants to retain her association with Laloo Prasad Yadav at any cost. Recent reports of a rapproachment between Laloo and the Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav could have caused this.

Old in charge of young

Probably the most suitable candidate for a ministerial berth, Dr. M.S. Gill served on the election commission, first with T.N. Seshan and then independently at the helm. A strickler for the rule book, Dr. Gill's tenure as CEC coincided with the path-breaking elections in Indian democratic history. The 72-year-old Dr Gill has ironically been handed over charge of Youth Affairs and Sports, a ministry that should have gone to a younger minister. However, reports suggest that the ongoing feud between Mani Shankar Aiyar, Gill's predecessor, and the Indian Olympic Association was the cause for this change. Along with the induction of seven new faces, Sonia Gandhi also got six ministers to put in their papers. These include Manikrao Gavit (Home), Suresh Pachouri (Parliamentary Affairs and Personnel), Dasari Narayana Rao (Coal), M V Rajasekharan (Planning), T Subbirami Reddy (Mines) and Akhilesh Das (Steel).

Jiten's task cut out

Jiten Prasada, who has been allocated the Steel ministry, has his task cut out as he would have to work with the industry to curtail rising steel prices, a crucial contributor to the inflation. Tribal leader Oraon, elected from Lohardaga in Jharkhand, gets Tribal Affairs portfolio and Bettiah MP Jha has been allocated Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises portfolio. Narayanasamy, member of the Congress vocal brigade in the Rajya Sabha, has been given Parliamentary Affairs and Planning.
Touch of royalty

As for Scindia, his status as a youth icon combined with the fact that he is a technocrat of sorts, resulted in the Scion of the Gwalior Family getting ensconsed in the Ministry of IT and Commnunication. Of course, it remains to be seen what the Senior Minister A Raja of DMK wants his junior minister to handle. Along with these new additions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also made a few changes to the Union Cabinet portfolios. B K Handique sheds Parliamentary Affairs and gets Mines portfolio in addition to his present charge of Chemicals and Fertilisers. Shakeel Ahmed moves from Communications and IT to Home, while high profile Jairam Ramesh gets Power in addition to Commerce. MoS Finance P K Bansal gets additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs.MoS in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan gets additional charge of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension and MoS HRD Kanti Singh has been shifted to Tourism and Culture.