Cab Reshuffle: Salman Foreign Minister, Moily gets Petroleum

New Delhi: Salman Khurshid was named the new External Affairs Minister and Veerappa Moily given Petroleum portfolio in the major reshuffle of the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who inducted 17 new faces including Chiranjeevi and Manish Tewari.

The much talked about revamp of the government that has been facing criticism over perceived policy paralysis and corruption allegations saw Pawan Kumar Bansal getting Railways while S Jaipal Reddy lost the high profile Petroleum and moved to Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.

With the coming Winter session of Parliament expected to be stormy, Parliamentary Affairs, which was handled by Bansal, has also been given to Congress veteran Kamal Nath who will continue to have the Urban Development portfolio. Water Resources, which was also handled by Bansal, goes to Harish Rawat in his elevated rank as Cabinet minister.

Shashi Tharoor, who had to quit as Minister of State as External Affairs in April 2010 in the wake of allegations of wrongdoing in buying stakes in an IPL team, has made a comeback as MoS in Human Resources Development.

The new faces brought in included actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi who has been made MoS with Independent charge in the Ministry of Tourism while Manish Tewari has been given I&B, a portfolio held by Ambika Soni who resigned.

Former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman and veteran leader from Karnataka K Rahman Khan made a re-entry into the government as Minority Affairs Minister, a portfolio held by Khurshid. In UPA-I, Khan was a Minister of State.

Surprisingly, Khurshid, who also held the portfolio of Law, got the high-profile External Affairs Ministry despite the controversy surrounding him over allegations of financial bungling by a trust run by him and his wife in Uttar Pradesh.

Dinsha Patel was promoted as Cabinet Minister in Mines Ministry in the reshuffle and expansion that raised the strength of the Council of Ministers to 78 from 67.

Rahul Gandhi, who was earlier speculated to join the government, kept away with the Prime Minister saying the young leader wants to strengthen the party, notwithstanding his request to become a minister.

The exercise, which the Prime Minister said was "hopefully, probably the last" before next Lok Sabha polls, was confined to Congress party barring the inclusion of Tariq Anwar of NCP as a Minister of State.