NEW DELHI:

The law and railway ministries - vacated by Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal — were allotted to Kapil Sibal and C P Joshi as additional charges in what is seen as a precursor to a Cabinet reshuffle.

The decisions, intended to swiftly fill the vacuum caused by the sacking of Kumar and Bansal due to corruption-linked controversies and signal that governance won't be hit, are expected to be followed by a larger political exercise.

"Both have been given temporary assignments," said a source when asked about the nature of fresh responsibilities for Sibal and Joshi.

Apart from law and railway portfolios, ministries like chemicals and fertlizers - vacated by DMK - and those that were redistributed after the Trinamool Congress's exit from the UPA need to be attended to as well.

Telecom minister Sibal would take charge of the law ministry despite his being reluctant to handle the portfolio.

At the same time, the return of the railway ministry to Joshi is a repeat of the scenario when he held the job after Mukul Roy of the Trinamool Congress had resigned following his party's pullout of UPA. The portfolio was later given to Pawan Kumar Bansal in a reshuffle last October.

The bid to restore the perception of normalcy comes amid regret that extended periods of uncertainty has made UPA-II look like a government in a limbo.

As part of a plan, Congress has launched a campaign to refocus on legislations on food security and land acquisition that could not be passed in parliament because of BJP's blockade. It is felt that the Congress offensive after the Karnataka defeat left BJP smarting, and could make the main Opposition reconsider its stridency against the UPA.

I&B minister Manish Tewari blamed BJP of obstructionism, saying with the party "having failed as a responsible opposition, one shudders to think of the fate of the nation in the very unlikely eventuality of them being on the treasury benches".

He dismissed saffron patriarch L K Advani's demand for the PM's resignation as a follow-up to the sacking of Kumar over Coalgate. "The logical culmination of people's verdict in Karnataka is serious and sustained introspection of BJP's policies, politics and philosophy over the past nine years," Tewari said.

AICC spokesman Bhakta Charan Das said BJP's stance on coalblock allocation reflected doublespeak since its leaders Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj had in parliament spoken in favour of the existing policy. He quoted from the statements made by them in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

source:http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com