Sibal gets additional charge of Law, Joshi Rail duty

New Delhi, May 11: Telecom Minister

on Saturday got additional charge of Law Ministry and Road and Transport Minister C P Joshi the Railway portfolio in the wake of resignations of incumbents Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal, respectively.

Sibal and Joshi will be in charge of these portfolios in addition to their existing ministries of Telecom and IT and Road and Transport, respectively.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to President Pranab Mukherjee recommending the changes, a day after Bansal and Kumar resigned in the wake of allegations of bribery and interfering with the CBI probe in the Coalgate scam, official sources said.

Joshi had earlier held temporary of Railways last year after Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy resigned when his party quit the UPA coalition government.

The changes in the portfolios notwithstanding, there is speculation that there could be a reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers to fill up some vacancies caused by the DMK's exit from the government and placing new nominees in the departments being held as additional charge.

PTI