PM may keep finance, reshuffle likely

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Leaders from the UPA constituents greet presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee after a meeting

With finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s nomination as the official UPA candidate for President, indications are there that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would prefer to keep the finance portfolio with himself.
Informed sources said that given the economic challenges, which the country has been facing for quite sometime, “the Prime Minister has indicated that he would like keep the finance portfolio with himself, at least for some time.”
However, a section in the government believe that home minister P. Chidambaram has been lobbying hard to get back his “old favourite job”. But since the Prime Minister wants to give a “personal touch” in reviving the ever-sagging state of economy in the country, he may keep the portfolio with himself, sources said.
However, a major reshuffle in the Union Cabinet is imminent after Mr Mukherjee’s exit from the Council of Ministers, as plans are being drawn to bring Dr Singh’s known sherpa and deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia to the PMO as a minister without portfolio to assist him in reviving the economy of the country.
However, the name of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) chairman C. Rangarajan has also been doing the rounds. Like Dr Ahluwalia, Dr Rangarajan is also considered to be a trusted aide of Dr Singh.
But sources revealed that Dr Ahluwalia’s name weighs more than Dr Rangarajan, as the former is a tested hand for Dr Singh, both in domestic and international economic affairs.
They said during 2008 crisis, when the then finance minister P. Chidambaram was shifted to home affairs, it was Dr Ahluwalia who managed the crisis as a de facto finance minister. He steered the economy by deftly handling public perception and business confidence by shaping several packages to keep India’s economy afloat.
A strong buzz has also been doing the rounds that once Dr Ahluwalia is shifted to the PMO, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh is the strongest contender to become Planning Commission deputy chairman and the ministry may go to a new face.
Similarly, now since it has become almost certain that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC would quit the UPA, it is learnt that another ally, the DMK, has staked claim over the railways portfolio.