Finance minister P Chidambaram replaced Shivraj Patil as the new home minister in the United Progressive Alliance government on Sunday. Patil took the rap from the Congress party, which wanted to fix political accountability for the horrifying terror attacks in Mumbai. The decisions were taken at a stormy meeting of the Congress working committee on Saturday night.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will keep charge of the finance ministry with him. At a time when the economy is slowing sharply from the impact of the global financial meltdown, the PM?s decision will help maintain confidence in industry and stock & currency markets that there will be continuity of approach to economic issues.

On the block now are the jobs of national security advisor MK Narayanan and Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Incidentally, defence minister AK Antony had also offered to resign at the CWC meeting. Top sources said Patil?s resignation was only the beginning and some more resignations were expected to limit possible political fallout of the terror attacks on the Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The inevitability of changes in the Union Cabinet became clear when the CWC meeting deliberations focused on three critical areas? fixing political responsibility, fixing administrative responsibility and identifying an appropriate response to Pakistan in the light of the body of evidence linking the attacks to that country.

Finding an immediate replacement for Chidambaram in the finance ministry was a difficult task given the magnitude of the economic problems and the short time left with this government before the general elections. Congress circles pointed out that Singh would have preferred someone like former RBI governor C Rangarajan or Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. But clearly there was strong opposition to a non-Congressman for the crucial portfolio. The only strong contenders from the party were commerce minister Kamal Nath and the external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee for the post.

At the CWC meet, Congress president Sonia Gandhi set the tone of fixing political responsibility when she said that the time for resolutions was over and the moment to act and send out a strong message had come. Rahul Gandhi too did not mince his words on describing Mumbai attacks as a shameful act. ?Pakistan has slapped you on your face, what are you going to do about it,? he asked the meeting.

Almost all the 40 odd members attending the meeting were unanimous that Shivraj Patil would have to be sacrificed if the party was to be saved from a rout in the coming Lok Sabha elections. ?Mr Patil, the home minister will have to resign,? senior leader Karan Singh said bluntly, as members almost applauded. Patil initially attempted to wriggle out by offering to resign and then going into a lecture on how well his ministry had performed compared to the NDA government.

He however realised that there was no escape route and eventually scribbled a two-line resignation, which he tried to hand over to the Prime Minister at the meeting itself. The latter, however, refused to accept it in such a manner, following which Patil sent in his resignation formally on Sunday morning.

The sources said defence minister Antony also offered to resign when questions were raised about lapses on the part of the navy and coast guard. However, some other senior leaders supported him, saying that they were not asking him to own moral responsibility.

A similar stance was adopted by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee when the discussion veered to role of Pakistan and the refusal of Islamabad to send the ISI chief. Mukherjee read out a transcript of his conversation with the Pakistani side to stress that Islamabad?s attempt to blame him for a change in their stand was only a ploy.

Indications that Chidambaram would become the next home minister came last night itself when he was asked to stay back after the meeting to participate in the exclusive core committee meeting chaired by Ms Gandhi. Saturday was the first time that he was made a member of the core group, which meets once every week to decide policy lines for the government. Chidambaram, sources said, also drafted the CWC resolution on the terror attacks.

Federal probe agency soon

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said the government has decided to set up a Federal Investigation Agency to strengthen air and maritime security and create four NSG hubs in various parts of the country. At an all-party meeting convened by him on Sunday evening, Singh shared the country?s ?anger and outrage? over the Mumbai attacks with parties and appealed to them to rise above political considerations. ?Terrorists and enemies of our nation must know that their actions unite rather than divide us,? he said.

No unusual moves on borders: Pak

Dismissing reports of ?unusual? movements or build-up of troops along the Indo-Pak border in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Pakistan army on Sunday said, ?there is nothing to worry about.? Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations, said the ceasefire along the borders in Jammu & Kashmir too was holding. ?There is nothing to worry about. I would not like to make any speculative comments about the situation,? Abbas told PTI in Islamabad.

BJP says ?it is too little, too late?

Dubbing the resignation of home minister Shivraj Patil as ?too little too late,? the BJP said the entire government had ?failed? and should quit. BJP president Rajnath Singh said this seems ?another unsuccessful tactic? of the government to cool down public sentiments against the government. The PM?s decision to keep the finance portfolio with himself also drew criticism. ?I think the finance ministry is too big and too important a job to be an adjunct of the PMO,? Yashwant Sinha said.