Kerala scores high in central reshuffle
January 19th, 2011 - 9:25 pm ICT by IANS
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 19 (IANS) Kerala appears to have made impressive gains in the first reshuffle of the second United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government with one new induction and some prime portfolios going to three existing ministers.K.C.Venugopal, a first time Lok Sabha member, was appointed the minister of state for power.
Vayalar Ravi, who holds the Overseas Indian Affairs portfolio, gets the additional charge of the prized civil aviation portfolio.
E. Ahamed, minister of state for railways, moves to the external affairs ministry, a portfolio he held in UPA-I.
Minister of State K.V. Thomas, who was an understudy to Sharad Pawar, gets promoted for independent charge of consumer affairs and public distribution.
With this Kerala gets back one ministerial post after Shashi Tharoor had to resign last year following a controversy over the Kochi IPL team.
At the end of the first re-shuffle, Kerala currently has six central ministers - Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Vayalar Ravi as cabinet ministers, Thomas with independent charge, Mullapally Ramachandran, minister of state for home, Ahamed and Venugopal.
The added gain is significant as it comes when the state is all set to go for the assembly polls expected in May, when the ruling Left government’s tenure will end.
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Tags: added gain, ahamed, assembly polls, cabinet ministers, civil aviation, consumer affairs, defence minister, external affairs ministry, impressive gains, indian affairs, lok sabha member, minister of state, ministerial post, progressive alliance, public distribution, reshuffle, sharad pawar, tharoor, understudy, vayalar ravi