Kodikkunnil Suresh will become union minister

NEW DELHI: Kodikunnil Suresh, senior Congress MP from Mavelikkara constituency in Kerala, will certainly become union minister in the cabinet revamp in the cabinet revamp scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday).

The credentials of Suresh lie in the fact that he had won five times as an MP and that nobody from a Dalit background from Kerala has not yet included in the union cabinet. Suresh also had gathered the support from Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

Sources say that a senior minister from Kerala will be either elevated as governor or given position of the party’s national level.

Kodikunnil Suresh was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1989 and thereafter in the 1991, 1996, 1999 General Elections to the Lok Sabha from Adoor Constituency. He was defeated in the 1998, 2004 elections. He served as the member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and member of AICC.

Meantime, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka, sent his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after apparently being told of plans to revamp the Cabinet. It has since been accepted.

Krishna, who was surprisingly made the External Affairs Minister after 2009 elections, said he was stepping down to pave the way for youngsters and strengthen the hands of leadership for strengthening the party.

There were indications that he could be asked to lead the Congress in Karnataka where assembly polls are due next year.

Late in the night, reports emerged that Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik also had offered to quit working for the party.

Whether Rahul Gandhi would join the government is still a matter of conjecture even as the Prime Minister held consultations with Congress President Sonia Gandhi for about an hour, apparently to give final touches to the exercise.

Some more Ministers are likely to quit ahead of the reshuffle, which could be the last before the Lok Sabha elections slated for 2014.

Among the probables for induction are Chiranjeevi, whose 18 MLAs provide stability to the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh after the merger of his party PRP.

Speculation is that former Chief Minister K. Vijay Bhaskar Reddy's son Surya Prakash and two MPs from Telengana region are likely to be made union ministers.

From West Bengal, where ally Trinamool Congress quit the UPA two months back, Congress MPs A.H. Khan Chowdhury, brother of late Ghani Khan Chowdhury, PCC President Pradeep Bhattacharya and Deepa Dasmunsi are among those being said to be considered for induction.

Trinamool had six ministers in the Council of Ministers, including one at the Cabinet level.

The possible names of the successors in the External Affairs Ministry include Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.  The other changes could include ministers holding dual portfolio shedding one of their responsibilities.

Younger ministers like Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora and Jyotiraditya Scindia are likely to be upgraded in the exercise.

There have been berths vacated by DMK representatives A. Raja and Dayanidhi Maran in the last two years after their names cropped in the 2G scam. However, DMK President M. Karunanidhi had recently made clear that his party will not like to reclaim their lost berths.

Thursday also Minister of State in the PMO V. Narayanasamy met Karunanidhi at his residence in Chennai when DMK leader is believed to have stuck to his position.

There is speculation that some young faces, considered close to Rahul, like Manicka Tagore and Meenakshi Natarajan could be inducted into the council of ministers.

With the death of Vilasrao Deshmukh, there is a vacancy for a cabinet minister from Maharashtra.

Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaisawal have come under attack from the Opposition on the coal block allocation issue.