New Delhi: There is a strong dose of youth in Team Manmohan Singh. As Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi says, young ministers are his imprint on the Cabinet.
Agatha Sangma, for instance is the youngest to take oath. She is 27 years old. Winning for a second time from Tura in Meghalaya, Agatha belongs to the NCP.
There is 30-year-old Sachin Pilot from Ajmer - the youngest MP ever to take oath in 2004. Also in the mix are Jitin Prasada, who was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and Jyotiraditya Scindia, former union minister for IT and Communications.
"My thoughts were with my father. I would have liked him to be there. But today, I would like to thank the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi. The last time I got three months on my post. This time around I will be able to do a lot more. I will be looking at empowering the grassroot workers. I feel fortunate in getting this post," Jyotiraditya Scindia said.
Congress MP Sachin Pilot too stated, "Let the Prime Minister decide what I shall get. I am just happy at being given an opportunity to discharge responsibilities."
And continuity with change, that's what this mix of experienced and young ministers will stand for, said Congress MP Jitin Prasada.
National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah said his main task would be to ensure good governance, while DMK leader MK Azhagiri said he owed the people of Tamil Nadu for helping him get this post, especially the people of Madurai.
The other Cabinet Minister from the DMK, Dayanidhi Maran stated, " I will be happy with whatever the Prime Minister allocates me. I will be happy to perform and contribute. At the end of the day all of us have a responsibility, the government has a duty towards the country and its people. We have a very good mandate and in these troubled times, all of our contributions should be really good."
The third DMK Cabinet Minister, A Raja, simply stated that he was happy be back and be a part of the governing process at the Centre again.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh too has been inducted into the Union Union Council of Ministers. He said, "I am ready to do any job. My personal view is that the Uttar Pradesh formula should be replicated in Maharashtra. There is no rehabilitation. I have worked hard for the party. Hard work and loyalty pay in the Congress."
However, there was one man who was definitely feeling left out and that was former law minister Hansraj Bhardwaj. "One has to take it because you have no right to be included as a Cabinet minister or a minister. It is the prerogative of the PM which in his wisdom he has exercised and he spoke to me. I assured him of my loyalty and my devotion to my party's work," he said in an effort not to sound disappointed.
But there is hope for Hansraj Bhardwaj yet. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has hinted that veterans dropped from the Cabinet could get governorships.
"The Cabinet is a mixture of experience and youth. Lots of factors played a role in Cabinet formation. There are other avenues open for leaders who were left out," the Prime Minister said on Thursday.
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