Manmohan rings in the old

He gave each one of them a new portfolio,and replaced them in their old Ministries with Jaipal Reddy,Vyalar Ravi,C P Joshi,Beni Prasad Verma,Dinsha Patel and Ajay Maken respectively,none with much to write home about.

We will do a more expansive exercise after the budget session, the Prime Minister told reporters after the brief swearing-in function at Rashtrapati Bhavan that was attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and most Cabinet ministers. Six ministers were sworn in,three of them new.

Although Patel was among those promoted as a Cabinet minister,the move to send him packing from the Civil Aviation ministry is being seen as an attempt to hit out at the cosy relationship he is said to have shared with players in the sector. Politically,its also being seen as the latest in a series of Congress snubs to its ally NCP.

The entry of Vyalar Ravi may not exactly set the Ministry on fire but senior government managers said that the additional charge tag means he can be moved later.

Patel was unfazed and said he had only requested a promotion. He will now look after Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

Deoras exit from the Petroleum Ministry,too,is being viewed in the context of a credibility deficit vis a vis players in the sector. He is also seen as having failed to make the performance cut. And was,in fact,identified along with Virbhadra Singh and B K Handique as underperforming ministers.

Out of the steel ministry,Singh will now look after micro,small and medium enterprises while Handique will only be in charge of North-East affairs.

Also,the three ministers,in their 70s,have not been keeping well for some time now. Deora has been avoiding answering questions in Parliament since he took over as Petroleum Minister in 2009. Handique has not been keeping well. The Mines portfolio will now be handled by Dinshaw Patel,who has been promoted as MoS (Independent charge).

Kamal Naths exit from the Surface Transport Ministry is being linked with controversies that he courted there. His name also figured in the Radia tapes when ex-CII head Tarun Das claimed that this was an ATM Ministry for Nath. Das later apologised for this remark.

Gill,who will now look after Statistics and Programme Implementation,too,has also had his share of controversies as Sports minister without much to show for.

He was expected to be the Governments key pointsman for the Commonwealth Games and was asked to energise sports federations. Instead,he was seen during the CWG as too eager to wash his hands of the mess and claim credit when things worked out.

The reshuffle also had a political message for election-bound states,especially Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.

Both Salman Khursheed and Sriprakash Jaiswal were promoted as Cabinet ministers,while Gonda MP Beni Prasad Verma,a Kurmi leader who quit the SP to join the Congress in 2009,was made MoS with Independent charge.

A surprise decision was the move to send Reddy to the Petroleum Ministry and Joshi to Surface Transport.

These were seen in the context of infusing credibility to these portfolios. Vilasrao Deshmukh will now look after rural development in Joshis place.

Acceding to his request,the Prime Minister divested Sharad Pawar of the Food and Consumer Affairs portfolio,handing it to K V Thomas,who was also among those to be promoted.

Much of the juggling within ministries was also done at the MoS levels an indication that the complaints that junior ministers lodged with the Prime Minister may have worked. In two meetings,they complained they were never given enough work.

The other new entrants in the government are Ashwani Kumar,Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab,and KC Venugopal,Lok Sabha member from Allapuzha.