Manmohan ministry to induct 59 more
27 May 2009
Former chief ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh (Maharashtra), Virbhadra Singh (Himachal Pradesh) and Farooq Abdullah (Jammu & Kashmir) – all with cabinet rank - will be among 59 new ministers to be inducted to the Manmohan Singh ministry during its second phase of expansion tomorrow.
Deshmukh, who is not a member of either House of Parliament, had to resign as Maharashtra chief minister following criticism over the way in which his government handled the terrorist attack in the state capital.
Other cabinet ministers to be sworn in include DMK's Dayanidhi Maran and A Raja, Congress MPs M S Gill, Kumari Selja, Subodh Kant Sahay, G K Vasan, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Kantilal Bhuria (all ministers of state earlier) and Congress leader Mukul Wasnik, who was a minister of state in the Narasimha Rao government.
Including the 14 cabinet ministers and 45 ministers of state to be sworn in tomorrow, the Manmohan Singh-ministry will have a total strength of 78.
Of the 45 ministers of state, seven will have independent charge. These include Praful Patel (NCP), Prithviraj Chavan, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Salman Khurshid, Jairam Ramesh, Krishna Tirath and Dinsha Patel (all Congress).
With tomorrow's expansion, the cabinet will have a strength of 34, including the prime minister, while the strength of the union council of ministers will go up to 79.
