NEW DELHI, NOV 22: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has tried to placate some disgruntled ministers as well as allies members by both expanding and reshuffling his Cabinet.The Akali Dal MP Sukhdeo Singh Dhindsa, who had refused PM's offer of Minister of State six weeks ago, was on Monday accommodated as Cabinet rank Minister incharge of works and estates, essential parts of the Urban Affairs department so far related to allotment of Government bungalows and the CPWD.Urban Affairs Minister Jagmohan was, however, compensated by reverting poverty alleviation and urban employment to him. The two departments too were part of Urban Affairs Ministry till they were given to Satya Narain Jatiya last month. Since Jatiya was unhappy with the two departments, PM gave him back Labour - a portfolio he held during last Government.The UP BJP chief Rajnath Singh too was taken in as the Cabinet rank Minister incharge of Surface Transport, so far held by Nitish Kumar who gets the Agriculture Ministry. Singh hasapparently been rewarded for his role in dislodging Kalyan Singh as UP Chief Minister without much fuss. This also paves way for appointment of a new party president, thereby dealing another blow to the ongoing factionalism in the State BJP.With an eye on coming Assembly elections in Bihar, the PM inducted Patna MP, CP Thakur making him incharge of water resources with a Cabinet rank. He is the tenth minister from Bihar of whom six are Cabinet Ministers. Thakur, belonging to powerful landowning Bhumihar community, was inducted to provide a semblance of balance in the caste-ridden Bihar society.Journalist-turned Rajya Sabha MP, Arun Shourie was inducted as Minister of state for Public Grievances, Administrative Reforms and Pension. Vajpayee has, however, kept the all important Personnel department having control on the CBI, with himself.Pramod Mahajan, having Water Resources so far, will hold the charge of Information Technology along with Parliamentary Affairs. Murli Manohar Joshi, Minister for HRDand Science and Technology, has been given the additional charge of Ocean Development.Minister of state Bachi Singh Rawat has been shifted from Defence to Science and Technology, replacing Santosh Gangwar who had not been allotted even office space by his senior minister, MM Joshi. Gangwar has been shifted to petroleum and natural gas, a department he held in the last government as well.Bangaru Laxman has been made Minister of state for Railways. With Digvijay Singh, already working as MoS Railways, the massive department would now be served by two ministers of state besides of course the Cabinet minister, Mamata Banerjee. The Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Faggan Singh Kulaste has been moved to Tribal Affairs, a ministry headed by an Orian tribal, Joel Oran.The Lok Shakti chief, Ramkrishna Hegde had to be a second-time disappointed after his name did not figure in Monday's expansion as well. Hegde was strongly tipped for a Cabinet berth this time around after a series of meetings withJanata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav. The Prime Minister, however, scotched the speculation as baseless as he quipped, ``Hegde's name was never considered''.BJP sources point out that the PM had offered Hegde the post of chairperson of Indo-French Friendship Forum, a Cabinet rank post but the latter has still not declined the offer giving an impression that he was amenable to the proposal. This was why his name was not considered for induction in the Cabinet, they said.
