Trinamool keeps Rlys,Mukul Roy is MoS

For now,Roy will only be a junior minister under the Prime Minister,who is handling the portfolio after Mamata

In a clear indication that the Trinamool Congress will keep the Railway Ministry,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday evening gave additional charge of the ministry to Mamatas nominee,MoS for Shipping,Mukul Roy.

For now,Roy will only be a junior minister under the Prime Minister,who is handling the portfolio after Mamata. He will be made a Cabinet minister when the Prime Minister reshuffles his team,most likely before the monsoon session of Parliament in July.

A late night communication from the Rastrapati Bhawan said President Pratibha Patil had accepted Mamata Banerjees resignation and Mukul Roy,as minister of state,had been given additional charge of the Railway portfolio.

Sources said the Trinamool chief made it plain to the Congress leadership,when she met them earlier this week, that she would want her party to retain the Railway portfolio. The reasoning within the Trinamool,sources said,was because a number of projects,especially those relating to West Bengal,which were announced by Mamata are still in preliminary stages,she was keen that they be completed with the ministry under the Trinamools charge.

Sources indicated that the move to have Roy handle Railways as an additional charge for now not only avoided a separate swearing in ceremony for him alone,but would also curtail the scope of speculation on whether Prime Minister had been pressured by ministerial colleagues,especially those who were on the chopping block,to avert the reshuffle.

Additionally,the UPA II government is set to celebrate two years of being in power on Sunday with Singh and Sonia Gandhi releasing a report of its performance and clearly,they would want to apply their minds to the reshuffle only after this function. According to sources,the reshuffle is now likely to be undertaken next month.