[1]In the race for the number two in the Union cabinet, defence minister, A.K. Antony seemed to have surged ahead of the Union home minister, P. Chidambaram.
Talks of Antony replacing the the UPA presidential candidate and former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as number two in the Union cabinet picked up pace with the defence minister being allocated the seat next to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh at Thursday’s cabinet meeting.
On Wednesday, Deccan Chronicle reported that the race was on between Chidambaram and Antony for the number two slot. This seat was reserved for Mukherjee. The seat next to the Prime Minister on the left was occupied by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth.
Sources said that a section of top functionaries in the Congress were in favour of Antony taking the number two slot as he was “non-controversial and low profile.”
Though in the website of government of India, the agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar continued to be be shown as number two, the official websites of both Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Secrtariat have removed the list of cabinet ministers.
Repeated calls to the PMO to find out the reason for this evoked vague replies.
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