Click to play videoNew Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram was on Sunday appointed as the country’s new home minister after Shivraj Patil resigned owing moral responsibility for the Mumbai terror attack.
Chidambaram was asked to take charge of the Home Ministry after Patil’s position became untenable in the government. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold the Finance Ministry. Patil met the Prime Minister on Sunday morning and gave his resignation letter.
A Rashtrapati Bhawan communiqué announced Chidambaram’s appointment as Home Minister after the President accepted Patil's resignation.
After recommending Patil's resignation to President Pratibha Patil, the Prime Minister spoke to Chidambaram formally and conveyed the decision to give him the Home Ministry.
PTI reports Chidambaram told the Prime Minister that a resolution condemning terrorism should be moved at the all-party meeting in Delhi on Sunday.
Shortly after the appointment, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta briefed Chidambaram on the ministry and the security situation in the country.
Chidambaram, 63, was Minister of Internal Security for a while in the Rajiv Gandhi government in the late 1980s. Chidambaram, a lawyer with an MBA degree, brings to Home Ministry his vast experience as a political administrator he had gained during his various stints in the government at the Centre.
Turmoil in UPA Government
The 60-hour terrorist attack on Mumbai has severely embarrassed the UPA government and it’s under pressure to fix responsibility for the security failure.
Congress party sources say Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh could be next to be asked to leave.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who is in charge of the state’s Home Ministry, though has made it clear that he will not resign. "I will not resign. There has been no failure on part of the Maharashtra government in tackling terrorism,” said R R Patil.
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office told CNN-IBN that the Congress is considering significant changes in the Home Ministry. Raman Srivastava has been appointed as the Special Secretary for Internal Security, in place of M L Kumawat.
There is also pressure mounting on National Security Advisor M K Narayanan to resign.
Patil’s exit
Shivraj Patil offered to resign after he was criticised at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, in Delhi on Saturday evening.
Sources say that CWC members came down heavily on Patil and Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for their failure.
UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are believed to have pulled up Patil. Union ministers Chidambaram, Kamalnath, Kapil Sibal and H R Bhardwaj are believed to have criticised him too, sources said.
Patil was criticised for his ministry failing to act on intelligence warnings that terrorists could attack Mumbai. Patil then told the CWC meeting that as Home minister he "takes the responsibility and whatever the CWC decides, I am ready to do."
Chief Minister Deshmukh, who was also present at the CWC meeting, was criticised too, sources said.
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