Minor Cabinet Reshuffle Soon: PM

New Delhi, Oct 20 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he would undertake a minor cabinet reshuffle ''very soon'' and appoint a new Minister for External Affairs.

Asked whether the External Affairs Minister would be a ''new face'' or one from within the Union Cabinet, Dr Singh said: ''That I cannot say.'' Dr Singh was talking to reporters at an Iftar party he hosted at his 7, Race Course Road residence this evening.

He also refused to say when the exercise, which he had promised as many as four times during the last three months, would be carried out. Even last Saturday while returning from his visit to the United Kingdom and Finland, the Prime Minister had told accompanying journalists that he would appoint an External Affairs Minister ''very soon''.

The Prime Minister is holding the External Affairs portfolio since November last year when Mr K Natwar Singh resigned after the Justice Pathak Authority indicted him for his alleged involvement in the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam.

On the mercy petition of Mohammad Afzal Guru, who is facing the death penalty for his role in the December 2003 attack on Parliament, which is now before President APJ Abdul Kalam, the Prime Minister said ''The process is on. I don't know when a final decision will be taken (by the President).'' Asked about his reaction to the Supreme Court judgement over exclusion of 'creamy layer' for reservation to SC and ST, he said the government has yet to study the report.

''We are a country of many complexities and we have to deal with seemingly conflicting issues,'' Dr Singh said.

The Iftar party was attended by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several diplomats, cabinet ministers and Muslim leaders.

Former President R Venkataraman and former Prime Minister I K Gujral were also present.

UNI PMD MIR VV2017