Jayalalithaa, Modi, Mayawati in Inter-State Council

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday approved a reconstituted Inter-State Coucil, with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as members.

The council, which makes recommendations to the centre on subjects concerning some or all states, is headed by Singh, with chief ministers of all states and union territories, and the administrators of union territories with no assemblies as members.

The council, constituted under the home ministry, also has six central cabinet ministers and six ministers of state as members.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Corporate Affairs Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi are in the council.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, Road Transport Minister C.P. Joshi, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M.K. Alagiri and Law Minister Salman Khursheed have also been named as members.

The prime minister also approved the constitution of a standing committee of the council, which will be headed by Chidambaram and will have as members Jayalalithaa, Modi, and Mayawati, among others.

Except for Kamal Nath, the other cabinet ministers are part of the standing committee.

Other chief ministers finding a place in the standing committee are Oommen Chandy of Kerala, Lalthanhawla of Mizoram, Parkash Singh Badal of Punjab, Manik Sarkar of Tripura, Naveen Patnaik of Orissa and Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot.