Salman Khurshid was India's new external affairs minister as Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday effected a major revamp of his council
of ministers, inducting 22 faces, including seven of cabinet rank, in
what is said to be the last major ministerial shuffle before the 2014
general elections.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi did not join the government - leaving the field open for him to play a larger role in the party.
Several portfolios were changed, some new faces introduced, some elevated to cabinet rank and at least one old hand - Shashi Tharoor - was back in what is possibly UPA II's last facelift - an exercise that jettisoned tainted ministers like Subodh Kant Sahay and roped veterans like Ambika Soni and SM Krishna back into the party organisation to gear up for the 2014 electoral battle.
"It is a combination of youth and experience," Manmohan Singh told reporters after the swearing ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office.
Click here for full list: new ministers and portfolios
"The road ahead is full of challenges," he said on his priorities in the next few months.
Of the seven new ministers sworn in with cabinet rank, two are debutants -- former deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha K Rehman Khan and Congress MP Chandresh Kumari Katoch. The other five, Ajay Maken, MM Pallam Raju, Dinsha Patel, Harish Rawat and Ashwini Kumar, have been elevated to the cabinet from ministers of state rank.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi did not join the government - leaving the field open for him to play a larger role in the party.
Several portfolios were changed, some new faces introduced, some elevated to cabinet rank and at least one old hand - Shashi Tharoor - was back in what is possibly UPA II's last facelift - an exercise that jettisoned tainted ministers like Subodh Kant Sahay and roped veterans like Ambika Soni and SM Krishna back into the party organisation to gear up for the 2014 electoral battle.
"It is a combination of youth and experience," Manmohan Singh told reporters after the swearing ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office.
Click here for full list: new ministers and portfolios
"The road ahead is full of challenges," he said on his priorities in the next few months.
Of the seven new ministers sworn in with cabinet rank, two are debutants -- former deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha K Rehman Khan and Congress MP Chandresh Kumari Katoch. The other five, Ajay Maken, MM Pallam Raju, Dinsha Patel, Harish Rawat and Ashwini Kumar, have been elevated to the cabinet from ministers of state rank.
