Beijing gaffe may cost Jairam his job

Jairam Ramesh may lose his ministerial berth when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh carries out a cabinet reshuffle, which is expected once the celebrations of the first anniversary of UPA-2 on May 22 get over. HT reports.

Minister of State Jairam Ramesh may lose his ministerial berth when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh carries out a cabinet reshuffle, which is expected once the celebrations of the first anniversary of UPA-2 on May 22 get over.

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The Congress party and the government have taken such a serious view of Ramesh's remarks in Beijing that the Home Ministry was blocking Chinese investment in India that he could even find himself out of the council of ministers.

"Something will have to be done (about him)…What he did in Beijing was very serious," said a top source.

Said another leader ominously: "Whether the Jairam chapter is closed or not will be decided by those to whom he explained himself."

Since his return Ramesh has apologised to Prime Minister Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and on Tuesday, Home Minister P Chidambaram.

As it is, Ramesh's Rajya Sabha term is ending. Though he hails from Karnataka, he has been nominated from Andhra Pradesh. He hopes to be re-nominated, but some Congressmen in Andhra have begun demanding that only those belonging to the state be sent to the Upper House from there.

Both Sonia and Singh are said to have reprimanded Ramesh when he met them. Chidambaram too reportedly expressed his displeasure.