New Delhi: S M Krishna was appointed the new External Affairs Minister on Saturday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deciding to give the key portfolio of Finance to Pranab Mukherjee while retaining P Chidambaram as Home Minister.
Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee will head the Railway Ministry while Sharad Pawar and A K Antony will continue as Agriculture Minister and Defence Minister respectively, a Rashtrapathi Bhavan spokesperson said.
The Prime Minister will hold the charge of all the other ministries, which are yet to be allocated, the spokesperson said.
The first expansion of the Cabinet is expected to take place on Tuesday after which all the remaining portfolios will be announced.
However, the wait continues for 13 others who were sworn in on Friday.
The limited allocation of portfolios was announced by the Rashtrapati Bhawan on the advice of the Prime Minister, who preferred to get down to business and distributed ministries on which there are apparently no no differences.
Portfolios for Ministers including Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jaipal Reddy, Anand Sharma and new entrants like Veerappa Moily and C P Joshi are yet to be announced.
It's also the first time that portfolios are being announced in a staggered manner.
"In the Govt there would be about 70-80 ministers. Only 19 have been sworn in so far so there are ample oppurtunities left. I am sure youth will be given prominance. There has to be a judicious combination of experience and youth" - SM Krishna
"We can only do business with Pakistan once it satisfies international committments. We have to get economy back on track" - Pranab Mukherjee
"SEZ will be an issue which we will raise. We want a stable govt in the centre. " - Mamata Banerjee
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