With Mr Pranab Mukherjee’s departure from the Union Cabinet, there seems to be major confusion over the government’s number two slot. On Thursday, the Prime Minister’s Office took the unprecedented step of removing the Cabinet list from the PMO website.
In the government website http:// www.india.gov.in, however, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s name still appears after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Earlier, his name was also in the number two slot in the PMO website http://pmindia.nic.in after Mr Mukherjee’s name was removed. PMO officials said the name of Mr Pawar, earlier third on the list, moved up automatically.
This appeared to give the impression that Mr Pawar, head of the Nationalist Congress Party, was number two in the Cabinet. “Since queries kept pouring in at the PMO, it removed the list for the time being to avoid any confusion or controversy,” sources said, adding that it will be put up again at the earliest.