External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was today given the additional charge of ministry of defence, which fell vacant following the resignation of George Fernandes. There was no word as to who would take charge of another key ministry -- railways -- vacated by Mamata Banerjee who quit the government after the tehelka expose as also the vacancy created by the resignation of her party colleague and minister of state for external affairs Ajit Panja.
Jaswant Singh is a former Indian Army officer and an expert on security issues. The handing over of defence portfolio to Singh is obviously a temporary arrangement as Fernandes has been assured of a return to it once he is cleared by the judicial inquiry into the tehelka expose.
Meanwhile, the stalemate continued on the resignation of three Samata representatives in the Vajpayee ministry -- agriculture minister Nitish Kumar, minister of state for railways Digvijay Singh and minister of state for consumer affairs V Srinivasa Prasad. Though Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has not accepted their resignations, the three ministers have not withdraw them. Bureau Report