Trinamul may get more when PM reshuffles Cabinet

Jan 13, 2011 - Sanjay Basak |

New Delhi

The Trinamul Congress, the largest ally of the Congress-led UPA, might get another berth, that of minister of state, during the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle. The reshuffle, long overdue, may be carried out in the last week of this month. The date being considered at this juncture is January 21.

Also, following the failure to curb rising prices and food inflation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might look at the option of shifting agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Trinamul Congress, with 19 MPs (six ministers of state and one Cabinet post), is eligible for one more ministerial berth. However, when contacted, a Trinamul Congress leader close to party supremo and Union railway minister Mamata Banerjee said: “We can get one more berth. But it’s up to the Prime Minister. We are not going to lobby for it.” Despite the stated stance, the Trinamul is keen to get another MoS berth for its chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Mr Sudip Bandopadhyay, sources disclosed.
It was learnt that there is also a possibility of Ms Banerjee pushing to upgrade one of her colleagues to MoS with independent charge. The names doing the rounds for MoS (independent charge) are that of Mr Bandopadhyay, minister of state for tourism Sultan Ahmed and minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi. Incidentally, Ms Banerjee is not likely to quit as Union railway minister till the Assembly elections in West Bengal, slated to be held during March-April this year.
Ms Banerjee had often threatened to resign from the Cabinet only to later retract. Only a few days ago, speaking to a private TV channel, the Trinamul chief had threatened to quit from “any post if the Centre did not act on violence in the state”. However, she retracted her remarks within hours and claimed she had been “misquoted” by the channel.
Speculation is rife that the Trinamul is also keen to take charge of the civil aviation ministry after the minister concerned, Mr Praful Patel, indicated his willingness to be shifted to another ministry.

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