Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda Made history when he expanded his 28day old council of ministers to include two CPI stalwarts, Indrajit Gupta and Chittranjan Mishra who share power at the Center for the first time.
With the swearing-in of 14 ministers, including five of Cabinet rank the strength of the Deve Gowda ministry has gone up to 35. Of them, 16 are of Cabinet rank and the remaining 18 are ministers of state. The PM also inducted 11 more Ministers of State in his Council of Ministers. T
The expansion of the Ministry enabled the PM to bring in representatives from the CPI and the AGP, who decided to participate in the government after the swearing-in of the Deve Gowda Government on June 1.
It also helped to rectify some of the regional imbalances that had crept in earlier due to lack of representation for the ruling United Front in most parts of the western, eastern and the north eastern regions.
Even after the expansion, states like Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Gujarat and the whole of the North East, except Assam, have still drawn a blank at the Center, Except Janeshwar Mishra, who reenters the Cabinet after a gap of five years, and Jena, who was a minister of state in the V P Singh government, all the others are new entrants.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1996
