New Delhi:
The waiting game is over. After several meetings, negotiations and much tough talking over the past few days, Manmohan Singh's Council of Ministers is taking shape. The Prime Minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi have finalised the ministerial berths and the final list has been sent to the President.
Some big omissions are HR Bharadwaj and Shivraj Patil. Rahul Gandhi seems to have had his say. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and Sachin Pilot will be inducted as ministers of state. Shashi Tharoor will also be sworn in. Vilasrao Deshmukh could also be inducted into the Cabinet.
The new government will have 34 Cabinet ministers which means 14 more will be inducted in the next round of swearing-in on Thursday. Seven ministers of state will hold independent charge and there will be other ministers of state. The total number of ministers is not known.
Those who got calls from PM, Sonia:Sachin Pilot
Shashi Tharoor
Mallikarjun Kharge
K H Munniapa
Virbhadra Singh
Dayanidhi maran
Farooq Abdullah
Ajay Maken
G K Vasan
D Purandeshwari
Pallam Raju
Jiten Prasada
Sri Prakash Jaiswal
Big omissions:HR Bharadwaj
Shivraj Patil