NEW DELHI: An Indian Muslim minister of state for foreign affairs Salman Khurshid has been sidelined by two other senior ministers Dinesh Singh and R.L.Bhatia in the allocation of work in the external affairs ministry. Khurshid will take care of Africa and Latin America divisions where India does not have much interest and where some missions are being wound up. He will also look after Asia Pacific division but without the all import an Japanese affairs. Coordination, external publicity and Indian council for cultural relations are the other areas allotted to Khurshid. Even Bhatia gets better job as consular, visa and passport affairs will be under his
charge. Khurshid should normally have been given the Gulf and the north Africa as also the Haj affairs but none of these matters go to him.
Home minister S.B Chavan has left the work of distribution of departments within the home ministry to the prime minister. Junior ministers in the home ministry such as Rajesh Pilot and P.M. Sayeed were earlier topped for important jobs in the home ministry. Pilot was to handle internal security, according to the official media but the home minister stayed the order. There is tussle between Chavan and Pilot on the allocation of work, according to reports here.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 29, 1993
