New ministers continue to wait for allocation of portfolios

LUCKNOW: Three days after 12 new faces were inducted into the council of ministers and nine promoted, the ministers who took oath on Saturday continue to wait for their portfolios. The situation is the same for the nine other ministers who were divested of their portfolios on October 29.

These ministers are obviously becoming uneasy as chief minister Akhilesh Yadav gives final touches to the list of new portfolios to be allocated to them.

Some senior ministers, whose family members have lost the panchayat elections, may face the consequences if chief minister considers the party’s performance in the panchayat polls as the criteria while finalising the portfolios. No official reason is being attributed to the delay. Sources, however, said the chief minister was holding consultations with senior party leaders on the issue and this was making many ministers uneasy.

The chief minister had divested nine ministers of their portfolios on Thursday. It remains to be seen whether they are given important departments now or sidelined with insignificant portfolios.

OFFICE ALLOTMENTS CHANGED

Meanwhile, the secretariat administration department has issued fresh orders changing office allotments to two new ministers. As Vinod Kumar Singh alias Pandit Singh has decided to retain his office at Bapu Bhawan instead of shifting to his new office in the main building at Vidhan Bhawan, the department has decided to allot the Vidhan Bhawan office to Balwant Singh Ramoowalia. Sources said Singh decided to retain his office in Bapu Bhawan, as he considered the same lucky for him. Ramoowalia, on the other hand, preferred to get an office in the main building at Vidhan Bhawan instead of Bapu Bhawan.