Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s plan to reshuffle his Cabinet now has to wait for a string of overseas visits to end: Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee is in Poland, Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel in Saudi Arabia and the PM himself will be at The Hague for the European Union Summit and, on his return, head for Kashmir.With less than a month left for Parliament’s winter session, Government sources said the PM is keen to expand and reshuffle his ministerial team in November itself.Sources indicated that JMM chief Shibu Soren, who was made to quit the Government after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him, is likely to be re-inducted as Union Minister for Mines with the Coal portfolio going to TRS chief Chandrasekhar Rao.Although the PM wants to have a ‘‘more energetic and political person’’ in the Home Ministry, there are indications that Shivraj Patil may keep his job. He is said to have ‘‘bought peace’’ with 10, Janpath though there has been intense speculation in Raisina Hill that Pranab and Patil may trade places.With Orissa, Punjab, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh and Kerala still not represented in the Cabinet, there are a number of Congress hopefuls: among others, A K Antony, Girdhar Gamang, Parneet Kaur, Satish Sharma and Ajit Jogi.Even if he were to accommodate them, Singh’s problem is that he will need to induct fresh faces from allies like RJD, NCP and the parties from the South. Since all this will involve tricky negotiations, the Cabinet exercise may just be limited though plans are elaborate.Sonia’s political advisor Ahmed Patel will be returning from Umrah in Saudi Arabia and Pranab from Poland only on November 6. Since an elaborate reshuffle cannot be discussed and completed in a day, the Cabinet expansion will have to wait for Singh to return from The Hague on November 11 (he leaves for the EU summit on November 7). Patil too is planning to leave for his Kashmir trip on November 6. This practically rules out a pre-Diwali reshuffle.And post-Diwali, Singh plans to set out for the Valley — already deferred twice, the visit is now scheduled for November 17-18. If the reshuffle has to take place, then this is the only period left.Normally, Cabinet reshuffles are done keeping in mind that new ministers get at least a month to familiarise themselves with the functioning of the ministries before facing Parliament. If Singh does go in for an expansion in the second week of November, then the exercise will be limited to reshuffling portfolios because the Congress will need to balance the Cabinet with its allies. And this can take time.
