Indian PM rewards allies with cabinet seats

NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, flush from a resounding national election win, on Thursday added 59 members to his week-old cabinet, rewarding loyal coalition allies with ministerial posts.

The 76-year-old Singh, a soft-spoken economist, was sworn in with a small number of ministers on Friday after a row over cabinet seats with his Congress party's biggest ally, the DMK, held up the process.

The dispute was resolved earlier this week and Singh completed the task of forming a government almost a fortnight after the Congress-led alliance secured a second term in office on May 16.

The ruling coalition won 262 seats in April-May elections to the 543-seat parliament and quickly secured the numbers required to cross the 272-member working majority mark.

Congress had campaigned on a poverty-alleviation platform for India's rural millions, and voters also responded to the image of Singh as a steady, pragmatic leader capable of steering the country through an economic downturn.

The new ministers include cabinet and junior ranks with many young and fresh faces. However the portfolios they will hold were still to be announced.

Among those included was former UN undersecretary general Shashi Tharoor, 53, who was India's official candidate to succeed former UN chief Kofi Annan in 2006 but finished second behind winner Ban Ki-moon.

Agatha Sangma, 28, elected from northeastern Meghalaya state became the youngest federal minister when she was sworn in by President Pratibha Patil at the presidential palace.

Singh described his cabinet as a mix of "experience and youthful energy."

"There are several factors like availability of talent and other considerations that played a role" in picking candidates, Singh said.

With 79 members, "this is the biggest cabinet in a decade," said political analyst Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, adding that Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi wanted "to represent different regions, religions and caste groups".

At least nine ministers are women while about a dozen are from India's socially underprivileged classes. About half a dozen belong to the main minority Muslim community.

Singh, who has promised "responsive" and "efficient" government, has handed key ministries including foreign affairs, defence and finance to Congress members.