Kapil Sibal gets Additional Charge of Law Ministry

HRD and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal got additional charge of law ministry following the resignation of Ashwani Kumar on Friday evening. Similarly, the Road and Transport Minister C P Joshi will be in charge of the railway portfolio after PK Bansal quit his post yesterday.

A mini Cabinet reshuffle may take place next week. Following the exit of two ministers yesterday, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of senior party leaders to discuss the reshuffle. However, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to be absent in the meeting.

The fate of the Coal Ministry and PMO officials and A-G Ghoolam Vahanvati who attended the meeting with former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on March 6 and those who made changes in the Coalgate report prepared by the CBI, is yet to be decided.

Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi could take the entire credit for the action against the tainted ministers. Sonia once again emerged the strong leader in the party and showed her power taking such decision. Both Ashwani and Bansal were considered as close to PM. However, Dr Singh could not save them from this trouble. They had to resign after Sonia called meeting with PM and recommended their removal from the posts.