Chidambaram new finance minister, Shinde gets home

IANS

New Delhi, 31 Jul 2012: P. Chidambaram returns to his favourite end of North Block to take charge of the Finance Ministry after three and half years spent presiding over the Home Ministry. In a minor reshuffle of his cabinet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the Home portfolio, to Sushil Kumar Shinde, who was the Power Minister. Simultaneously, Union Corporate Affairs Minister M. Veerappa Moily has been given additional charge of power.

 

The changes were announced on Tuesday through a press communique issued by Rahstrapati Bhawan. The announcement, though expected, makes clear that the widely anticipated recasting of the Union Council of Ministers will have to wait till September, after the monsoon session of Parliament ends.

 

Mr. Chidambaram’s assumption of the Finance portfolio will doubtless be controversial, as he has yet to shrug off the 2G affair. But government sources said that he has been given the job because the Prime Minister believes he is the best person available to take charge of the Ministry when the economy is witnessing a slowdown and foreign investors are being scared away by some decisions on tax matters. The new Finance Minister will be expected to restore the confidence of foreign investors, tame inflation and ensure the return of high economic growth.

 

Mr. Chidambaram was shifted to the Home Ministry from the Finance Ministry in December 2008 in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai and was tasked with strengthening the country’s security.

 

The new Finance Minister is clearly the rising star and is set to play a key role in the two years that remain of the United Progressive Alliance’s term in power. Indeed, after the Prime Minister rationalised the Groups of Ministers and the Empowered Groups of Ministers, and reconstituted those that remained, after the departure of Pranab Mukherji for Rashtrapati Bhawan, Mr. Chidambaram has got the lion’s share: he now heads seven out of the 15 GoMs and two EGoMs, while Defence Minister A K Antony chairs three EGoMs and four GoMs. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who had recently threatened to pull out of government complaining that the UPA allies were not being given a sufficient share in decision-making, has been made chairman of one EGoM and three GoMs.

 

Mr. Shinde’s appointment as Home Minister is an indication that the Congress is not inclined to appease the NCP beyond a point: Mr. Pawar, NCP sources had said, was not very happy at the idea of Mr. Shinde’s elevation as the latter had once been his protégé. However, the timing of Mr. Shinde’s “promotion” comes at an unfortunate moment for him, following as it does two major power outages on two consecutive days, with the one on Tuesday affecting as many as 19 States.