Sangma, Vincent Pala resign ahead of Cabinet reshuffle

New Delhi: Ahead of Sunday’s reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers, seven ministers resigned from the central government on Saturday. Incumbent minister of state for rural development of the Nationalist Congress Party Agatha Sangma and MoS for Water Resources and Minority Affairs Vincent H Pala submitted their resignations on Saturday evening. [caption id=“attachment_505026” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik and Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay and MoS Justice and Empowerment Mahadev Khandela met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and submitted their resignations earlier in the day. President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted resignation of all seven union ministers. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna quit the government on Friday. The ceremony for swearing-in of new ministers is scheduled at 11.30 hours at the Rashtrapati Bhavan tomorrow when a number of new faces are likely to be inducted. Prominent among them are actor-turned politician Chiranjeevi from Andhra Pradesh and A H Khan Chowdhry, MP from West Bengal, who is also the brother of the late Ghani Khan Chowdhry. The possible names of the successors in the External Affairs Ministry include Commerce Minister Anand Sharma. A report on CNN IBN said Commerce Minister Anand Sharma might move to the Ministry of External Affairs. The report further said Andhra Pradesh MP Daggubati Purandeswari is likely to replace Sharma. Purandeswari represents the Visakhapatnam constituency of Andhra Pradesh and currently holds the post of Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development. Sahay’s name had cropped up in a controversy following media expose that he had recommended for allocation of coal block a company in Jharkhand in which his brother was a Director. Offering their resignation, Soni, Wasnik and Sahai said they will work for the party. Soni was Congress General Secretary for several years and was Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi while Wasnik was handling the dual responsibility of Congress General Secretary as well as Union Minister. Before meeting the prime minister, Sahay said on Friday that Congress president Sonia Gandhi called him to draft him for party work. “It is an honour to work for the party. I am offering my resignation to Prime Minister. Party President (Sonia Gandhi) and others want me to work for the party so I will be working to strengthen the party as the party is supreme.We are in the government because of the party. Party is supreme and will always be supreme,” he said. Ms. Soni said, “I have taken Prime Minister’s permission to resign. It is not appropriate if I do it on my own so I have taken his permission and explained it to him". Asked if she was willing to work for the party, she said, “I think it is an honour". Mr. Wasnik said, “I have been working for the organisation for the last several years and I would like to work for the organisation". The reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, which could be the last before 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is expected to see induction of new faces in the government. Mr. Chiranjeevi is being rewarded for his help in ensuring stability of the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh by lending the support of 18 of his MLAs after the merger of his party PRP. The other changes could include ministers holding dual portfolios shedding one of their responsibilities. Younger ministers like Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora and Jyotiraditya Scindia are likely to be upgraded. There have been berths vacated by DMK representatives A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran in the last two years after their names cropped in the 2G scam. However, DMK president M Karunanidhi had recently made clear that his party will not not like to reclaim their lost berths. Whether Rahul Gandhi would join the government is still a matter of conjecture even as the Prime Minister held consultations with Congress President Sonia Gandhi the day before yesterday, apparently to give final touches to the exercise. There is speculation that some young faces, considered close to Rahul, like Manicka Tagore and Meenakshi Natarajan could be inducted into the council of ministers. PTI