Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and asked him to ?relieve? him from some of his ministerial responsibilities so that he could devote more time to the NCP?the party he heads.
Pawar?s move has triggered speculation that a Cabinet reshuffle might now be in the offing. He has faced flak from the Opposition parties as well as the Congress in the last few months over the inability to arrest inflationary trends of food grains and other essential items. ?I met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and asked him to relieve me from some of the responsibilities that I am holding,?? Pawar said.
The senior minister, who has held the responsibility of agriculture and cooperation, consumer affairs, food and public distribution for the last six years, however, denied that the move had anything to do with his latest responsibility as president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), to which he was elected last week. ?I want the burden to be lesser so that I can give some time to my party work,? Pawar said.
Sidestepping a question on the response to his ?request?, Pawar said it was the prerogative of the Prime Minister to decide on the work allocation to Cabinet members. Sources in the PMO indicated that in the event of a restructuring, Pawar was most likely be relieved of the food and consumer affairs portfolio, the key ministry controlling the prices of food grains.
According to NCP sources, Pawar?s own thinking appears to be that the agriculture portfolio has a better profile, even though the ministry deals largely with policy framing.
PMO sources, however, hinted that the Prime Minister was unlikely to take immediate action on Pawar?s request unless he decides to go ahead with the proposed reshuffle of the Cabinet.
There has been some talk that Singh could go for a reshuffle before the Monsoon Session of Parliament commences from July 26 and a senior Congress functionary, when asked about the possibility of a reshuffle, did not rule it out.
UPA circles are still trying to read Pawar?s intentions with some leaders seeing a possible move to get his daughter Supriya Sule inducted as a minister of state.
A first-time MP, Sule was elected to the Lok Sabha from Pawar?s pocketborough Baramati in 2009, and is widely seen as his successor in the party.
Pawar had three MoS during UPA-I to assist him in discharging his duties but this time, he has only one, KV Thomas, as his junior.