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Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who was sworn in as Cabinet minister, has indicated that there could six more ministerial berths for her party in the first expansion of the Manmohan Singh ministry which is likely on Tuesday. Mamata, 54, who is widely tipped to get the Railways portfolio, said though her party could have demanded more ministerial berths since it was the largest party after the Congress in the UPA it did not do so. A day after being sworn in as Prime Minister for a second term, Manmohan Singh called a meeting of the Union Cabinet this morning. Though the meeting is being described as a customary one, sources said it is likely to take a decision on convening a Parliament session to enable new members to take oath. Manmohan's Team 'A' | Ministers, likely portfoliosThe bane of government formation in this era of coalition politics has been the PM’s loss of prerogative to set up a Council of Ministers of his choice. But Manmohan Singh has altered, after 20 long years, the lead party’s terms of engagement with alliance partners to emerge as the “PM powerful.” Vinod Sharma reports.
Manmohan's Team 'A' | Ministers, likely portfolios Five days after a stunning victory, the UPA hit its first roadblock on Thursday with the DMK threatening to stay out of government after failing to get the cabinet berths it wanted. “We will give outside support,” said DMK’s T R Baalu. Congress is adamant on keeping out of cabinet people with dubious track record, reports Saroj Nagi.
Guide to swearing-in ceremony | How talks broke down Congress president Sonia Gandhi late tonight held discussions with PM Manmohan Singh in the wake of DMK deciding to provide outside support. The meeting took place at Prime Minister's residence that is believed to have discussed DMK's insistence on certain number of portfolios and ministries for its representatives. Trinamool Congress is believed to have reached an agreement with Congress on allocation of ministerial portfolios with party chief Mamata Banerjee likely to get Railways at the level of cabinet in the new government. Party sources said TC, which has 19 seats in the LS and is the largest constituent in the UPA after Congress, is likely to get six more slots at the level of MoS. Crisis managers within the Congress were making last-ditch efforts Thursday night to persuade the DMK to stay within the UPA after the Tamil Nadu party, dissatisfied over the allocation of ministerial berths, threatened to give outside support to the new government. Unhappy with the Congress proposal on ministerial berths, DMK today decided to extend outside support to the UPA government at the Centre. "The Congress formula is not acceptable to us", DMK leader T R Baalu told reporters after talks between the two sides. Congress was willing to offer six Cabinet berths to DMK.
Predict Manmohan's new Cabinet Formally taking centre stage in Congress politics, general secretary Rahul Gandhi attended a meeting of the United Progressive Alliance coordination committee for the first time on Wednesday. He later invited about two dozen young MPs for a tête-à-tête over tea at his residence. The 39-year-old who addressed 120 meetings through the campaign has emerged as the face of the Congress’s success in the general election. Varghese K George reports. How the Congress won IndiaOn May 22 Manmohan Singh will be sworn in for his second consecutive term as prime minister — but before that expect long nights and some hard-nosed bargaining by the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) allies for ministerial berths. Saroj Nagi and Aurangzeb Naqshbandi report. Listen to podcast: 1, 2 
Cabinet frontrunners | See graphics Somnath Chatterjee has strongly denied having advised or requested Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh to ensure his party’s support in the UPA government’s trust vote over the nuclear issue on July 22 last year. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday expressed surprise at the statement of Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh that he had requested him to support the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying it was "without any basis or foundation". Samajwadi Party, which had been against the nuclear deal initially, on Wednesday said it had changed its stand and supported the UPA government on the issue last year at the behest of outgoing Speaker Somnath Chatterjee despite "bitter relations" with Congress. After shedding some of the baggage of demanding allies, a resurgent Congress is getting ready to give a new shine to governance. One big idea is to split the ministries that had been clubbed in 2004 to keep its partners in good humour. This time the Congress intends to go for a ‘one minister, one ministry’ formula — a move that is likely to hit even its existing allies hard. Saroj Nagi reports. See special
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