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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 001008 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI TBIO IN
SUBJECT: CONGRESS TINKERS WITH CABINET, NO DRAMATIC CHANGES 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary and Comment: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 
reshuffled the second tier of his cabinet on April 6, 
inducting seven new Ministers of State.  (Note: Minister of 
State is approximately the Deputy Secretary level in the USG. 
 End Note.)  Six of the seven are Congress MPs while the 
seventh is from Congress ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). 
The risk-averse Congress decided against any sweeping policy 
changes with the reshuffle, and this was not a massive 
generational changing of the guard.  However, two of the 
seven are young rising stars in the party, Jyotiraditya 
Scinda (37) and Jitin Prasada (35).  Two heavily rumored 
changes did not happen: popular young Rajasthan MP Sachin 
Pilot was passed over, and Minister of Human Resource 
Development, Arjun Singh, retained his position.  Ultimately, 
the new appointments signal neither a major shift in the 
Congress Party's power structure, nor the revival of its 
struggling electoral fortunes.  As one longtime political 
observer put it, "The changes are less than cosmetic."  End 
Summary and Comment. 
 
¶2. (U) Biographies of the seven new Ministers of State follow. 
 
---------------------- 
 
M.S. GILL - (Independent Charge) Minister of State for Sports 
and Youth Affairs 
Rajya Sabha, Punjab, Congress Party 
 
M.S. Gill (72) was tapped to serve as the United Progressive 
Alliance (UPA) government's Minister of State (Independent 
Charge - this means Gill will not be directly below a full 
Cabinet Minister) for Youth Affairs and Sports.  Gill began 
his civil service career in 1958 when he joined the Indian 
Administrative Service (IAS) from Punjab.  As an IAS officer, 
Gill served in many positions including as the Secretary in 
the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and in the 
Department of Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Pharmaceuticals. 
 In 1993, he joined the Indian Election Commission where he 
was promoted in 1996 to be the Chief Election Commissioner. 
It was during his tenure as Commissioner that India switched 
to electronic voting machines and political parties began 
advertising on television and radio during campaigns.  He 
served as Chief Election Commissioner until 2001. 
 
Gill has authored a book, "An Indian Success Story: 
Agriculture and Cooperatives in Punjab" and served on a World 
Bank project on agriculture and infrastructure in Nigeria 
between 1981 and 1984.  Gill has a passion for mountaineering 
and was coached by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay who climbed Mt. 
Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary.  He was also the president 
of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. 
 
---------------------- 
 
JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA - Minister of State for Communications 
and Information Technology 
Lok Sabha, Madhya Pradesh, Congress Party 
 
Jyotiraditya Scindia (37) was assigned to be the Minister of 
State for Communications and Information Technology.  Scindia 
is an elected member of the Lok Sabha from the Guna 
constituency in Madhya Pradesh.  The scion of the royal 
family of Gwalior, Jyotiraditya entered politics following 
the death of his father, veteran Congress leader Madhavrao 
Scindia.  Scindia's family is politically bifurcated; his 
Aunt, Vasundhara Scindia Raje, is the Bharatiya Janata Party 
(BJP) Chief Minister of Rajasthan.  Articulate and a good 
orator, Scindia is an active participant in parliamentary 
debates covering topics ranging from the economy to foreign 
policy and the environment. 
 
One of the younger members in the Lok Sabha and a close 
Embassy contact, Scindia earned a bachelors degree from 
Harvard and an MBA from Stanford.  After graduation, he 
interned with the UN and later worked as an investment banker 
for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.  He also set up his own 
investment firm in Mumbai called Scindia Investments Private 
Limited.  Scindia is an avid sportsman and sharpshooter.  He 
 
NEW DELHI 00001008  002 OF 003 
 
 
is married to Priyadarshini Raje Gaekwad of the erstwhile 
royal family of Vadodara.  They have two children, a 
twelve-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter. 
 
---------------------- 
 
JITIN PRASADA - Minister of State for Steel 
Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh, Congress Party 
 
Jitin Prasada (35), one of the prominent young faces of the 
Congress Party, was inducted as a Minister of State for 
Steel.  A first-timer in the Lok Sabha, Prasada represents 
the Shahjahanpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh.  Prasada is 
the son of the late Congress leader Jitendra Prasada, who 
served as Vice President of the party as well as Political 
Advisor to Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi (1991) and P.V. 
Narasimha Rao (1994-96). 
 
Prasada studied at The Doon School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. 
He earned his bachelors degree from the prestigious Sri Ram 
College of Commerce at Delhi University.  He also earned an 
MBA from the Indian Management Institute in New Delhi.  Prior 
to politics, Prasada worked at DSP Merrill Lynch and BPL Net, 
an information technology company. 
 
---------------------- 
 
SANTOSH BAGRODIA - Minister of State for Coal 
Rajya Sabha, Rajasthan, Congress Party 
 
Santosh Bagrodia (68), an industrialist-turned-politician, 
was appointed Minister of State for Coal.  Bagrodia, a third 
term Rajya Sabha member, is a party fundraiser and represents 
the wealthy Marwari community of Rajasthan, where assembly 
elections are due in November 2008.  Bagrodia has been 
critical of the UPA government's Special Economic Zone (SEZ) 
policy and even lent support to the opposition and Left 
parties' criticism of the Special Economic Zone Act. 
 
Born in Kolkata, Bagrodia studied commerce at St. Xavier's 
College.  He joined the Congress party in 1975.  After a 
decade of organizational assignments, he was elected to the 
Rajya Sabha for the first time in 1986.  Thereafter, he was 
nominated in 1998 and again in 2004.  Besides being the 
chairman of the standing committee on industry, he is also a 
member of the consultative committees on civil aviation and 
consumer affairs. 
 
---------------------- 
 
RAMESHWAR ORAON - Minister of State for Tribal Affairs 
Lok Sabha, Jharkhand, Congress Party 
 
Rameshwar Oraon (60) was named Minister of State for Tribal 
Affairs.  A retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, 
Oraon was first elected in 2004 as an MP from the Lohardaga 
constituency of Jharkhand.  Prior to that, he served as 
Additional Director General of Police in Jharkhand. 
 
Holding a doctorate in Economics from Patna University, Oraon 
joined the IPS in 1970.  He shot into the national limelight 
as the police officer who, on orders from the then-Chief 
Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, arrested BJP leader L.K. Advani 
in 1990 when Advani was on his Rath Yatra (chariot tour) to 
the temple town of Ayodhya.  In Parliament Oraon was a strong 
advocate of the new Forest Rights Bill (passed in 2007) and 
he consistently asserted that tribals and forests were 
"inseparable." Oraon presides over several sports 
organizations, with games ranging from hockey to more obscure 
ones such as Wushu, a Chinese martial art and tug of war game. 
 
---------------------- 
 
¶V. NARAYANASAMY - Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs 
and Planning 
Rajya Sabha, Puducherry, Congress Party 
 
¶V. Narayanasamy (61), a Congress party loyalist, was named 
 
NEW DELHI 00001008  003 OF 003 
 
 
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning.  A 
senior parliamentarian, Narayanasamy has served as the 
party's Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha and sits on several 
parliamentary panels.  A lawyer by profession, Narayanasamy 
was elected to the Rajya Sabha in August 1985 and again in 
¶1991.  His seniority and trustworthiness were two strong 
points that made the party leadership nominate him again in 
¶2003.  Narayanasamy has also successfully headed the 
Puducherry unit of the Congress Party for several years.  The 
party rewarded him in 2006 by appointing him to the position 
of National General Secretary. 
 
Narayanasamy studied arts at the Tagore Art College in 
Puducherry and law at the Madras Law College.  He practiced 
law for several years before entering politics.  He is also 
president of the All India Backward Classes Employees 
Federation. 
 
---------------------- 
 
RAGHUNATH JHA - Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises 
Lok Sabha, Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal 
 
Raghunath Jha (69), a senior parliamentarian in the Lok 
Sabha, was tapped to be Minister of State for Heavy 
Industries and Public Enterprises.  Jha represents the 
Bettiah constituency of Bihar as a member of the Rashtriya 
Janata Dal Party (RJD).  The RJD is a key alliance partner in 
the current UPA government.  Jha entered politics in the 
1960s as a Socialist Party leader before switching to the 
Congress Party.  In 1972, he won a Bihar Legislative Assembly 
seat as a Congress Party member, which he held for 28 years. 
During his political career, Jha switched party affiliation a 
number of times.  After leaving the Congress Party, he moved 
on to the Janata Party, then to the Janata Dal-United, and 
finally to Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD Party.  In 1999, Jha 
entered Parliament from the Gopalganj constituency in Bihar. 
Currently, he is the Vice President of RJD. 
 
Born into a Maithili Brahmin family in Bihar, Jha actively 
participated in student politics and was inspired by 
Congress-socialist leaders like Jai Prakash Narayan and Dr. 
Ram Manohar Lohia.  He was a close associate of former Prime 
Minister Chandrashekhar. 
 
¶3. (U) Outgoing Cabinet members include: 
 
-- SURESH PACHOURI (Parliamentary Affairs) 
His Rajya Sabha term expired and he was recently appointed 
State Congress Committee Chief in Madhya Pradesh, which will 
hold state elections later this year. 
 
-- DASARI NARAYAN RAO (Coal) 
Had been Congress Party Campaign Committee Chairman in Andhra 
Pradesh during the 2004 elections and may be used for party 
work in the state. 
 
-- T.SUBBARAMI REDDY (Mines) 
Previously served as Media Director for the All India 
Congress Committee and may return to that role. 
 
-- M.V. RAJASEKHARAN (Planning) 
His Rajya Sabha term expired. 
 
-- AKHILESH DAS (Steel) 
 
-- MANIKRAO GAVIT (Home) 
DEIKUN