Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Mocking the government’s Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday that saw 22 ministers being sworn-in, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the rejig won’t bring in any change as nothing new had turned out from the “scarapyard”.
In what was termed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as probably the last Cabinet reshuffle before the next Lok Sabha polls in 2014, seven Cabinet ministers and 15 Ministers of State were sworn-in today.
Of the seven new Cabinet ministers, two are new faces - former Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K Rahman Khan and Lok Sabha MP Chandresh Kumari Katoch.
President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office to those inducted into the Council of Ministers.
Salman Khurshid has been named as new External Affairs Minister.
Veerappa Moily has moved to the Petroleum Ministry from Corporate Affairs and Jyotiraditya Scindia is now Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power. Sachin Pilot has been named as Minister of State in Corporate Affairs with Independent charge. Pawan Kumar Bansal is new Railways Minister and Jaipal Reddy is new Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences. Jitendra Singh is new MoS (independent charge) Youth Affairs & Sports.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says the new Cabinet is a mix of youth and experience. Upon being asked about Rahul Gandhi, the PM said that he had always wanted him in government but that the Congress General Secretary wanted to work for the party instead.
Earlier today, IAC activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal scathed the Cabinet reshuffle, terming it as a futile exercise, comparing it with the game of “musical chairs”.
First Published: Sunday, October 28, 2012, 14:28