Jena, Kamat unhappy; skip swearing-in ceremony

New Delhi: The first signs of discontent over the reshuffle carried out in the Union Council of Minister by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have started to surface. Sources say Congress leaders Srikant Jena and Gurudas Kamat are unhappy with their portfolios. The duo also gave the swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Tuesday evening a miss.

Jena, a senior Congress leader from Orissa, is reported to be unhappy with the portfolio allocated to him following Tuesday reshuffle in the Union Council of Minister carried out by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The four-time Lok Sabha MP remains a Minister of State (independent charge) handling the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation and Ministry of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

Kamat, who has been made the Minister of State (Independent Charge) incharge of Drinking Water and Sanitation portfolio, may not attend the swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi on Tuesday. He was earlier a minister of state in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Jena, who was a Cabinet Minister handling Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism in the United Front government in the mid 1990s, reportedly considers the Minister of State rank as a demotion for him.

He is unhappy with the additional charge of Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with sources saying he was assured of being made a Cabinet minister.

The Congress MP, who was very close to former Orissa chief minister the late Biju Patnaik, was of the view that since DMK's Dayanidhi Maran had resigned as the textiles minister, Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister MK Alagiri would be shifted to the textiles portfolio and he (Jena) would be made the Cabinet Minister handling the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

Sources say that Jena pointed out that Beni Prasad Verma Steel, who was a part of the Union Cabinet along with him in the United Front government in the mid 1990s, has been elevated as a Cabinet Minister incharge of the Ministry of Steel from being a minister of state with independent charge.