NEW DELHI: In a significant reorganization of work in the South Block, Minister for External Affairs Dinesh ‘Singh has shed much of his work load to Minister of State for External Affairs R.L. Bhatia, while giving most of the economic work in the Ministry to Mr. Salman Khurshid.
The new work allocation is an indicator of the relative importance of the Ministers in South Block. Mr., Bhatia, the more senior Parliamentarian and Congress party leader of the two Ministers of State, now holds a much heavier charge.
Intriguingly Minister of State Salman Khurshid, basking in the glow of his dedicated work at the Geneva Human Rights Commission which added to. The pressures on Pakistan to withdraw its resolution about human rights violation in Kashmir, appears not to have gained much by way of responsibilities.
Mr. Khursheed’s work load firmly indicates his place at the bottom rung of the Ministerial ladder in South Block. By shedding much of his work load, Dinesh Singh has shown that, not ‘only is he in full control of his Ministry, he also has full confidence in Mr. Bhatia.
Mr. Dinesh Singh has retained overall coordination, supervision and Policy matters in the Ministry and the important countries including the US, UK, France, Russia, China, Germany, Japan, Pakistan and Canadian as well as United Nations matters and other international organizations.
By allotting Parliament Division to him, Dinesh Singh has clearly signaled that Bhatia is the senior most of his two deputies.
The Haj Division which could have been politically useful for Khurshid has also been allocated to Bhatia.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 1, 1994
