Santosh Mohan Dev, who did not assume office on Monday as Minister of State with independent charge of Heavy Industries Ministry,on Tuesday took over following an assurance from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the anomaly of having two ministers of state in the same Ministry would be rectified.
Dev, a seasoned Congressman from Assam, had been given independent charge of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises while RJD's Taslimuddin was also appointed as MoS in the same Ministry.
"I am not a child and I did not barge into the Ministry. I talked to the Prime Minister and Congress President Sonia Gandhi this morning. They asked me to take charge and said the mistake will be rectified," he said.
Asked whether Taslimuddin would assume office, Dev said "that you have to ask him".
Dev had on Monday said there was no convention of having a junior minister when an MoS had been given independent charge of a department. He had said he would not assume office until the mistake was rectified.