Cabinet rejig: swearing-in of new ministers

Seven Cabinet ministers, including new faces K Rehman Khan and Chandresh Kumari, and 15 Ministers of State were sworn-in today as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expanded his Council of Ministers.

The cabinet rejig started at 11.30 am on Sunday, October 28.

The new cabinet is a combination of youth and experience, says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He has also ruled out early elections. Singh further stated that this is probably the last reshuffle.

Five Ministers of State  -- Dinsha Patel, M M Pallam Raju, Harish Rawat, Ajay Maken and Ashwani Kumar -- were promoted to Cabinet rank.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari and actor-turned- politician Chiranjeevi were brought in as Ministers of State with independent charge, while Shashi Tharoor made a comeback as Minister of State after over two years.

12 new Ministers of State were sworn-in. They are Tariq Anwar (Maharashtra), K Suresh (Kerala), A H Khan Chowdhry, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhry and Deepa Dasmunshi, (West Bengal), S Satyanarayana, K Jayasuyraprakash Reddy, P Balram Naik, and Killi Kriparani (Andhra Pradesh).

Lalchand Kataria (Rajasthan), Ranee Narah (Assam) and Ninong Ering (Arunachal Pradesh) are the others who were sworn-in as MoS.

Manmohan Singh also said "I wanted Rahul Gandhi in Government, but he wants to strengthen party".