New Delhi: Six Congress ministers at the Centre resigned on Sunday ahead of the expansion of the Union Council of Ministers which saw an induction of new faces like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada of Congress and Raghunath Jha of RJD.
Those who quit the government are Ministers of State Suresh Pachouri (Personnel), Dasari Narayan Rao (Coal), M V Rajasekharan (Planning), T Subbarami Reddy (Mines), Akhilesh Das (Steel) and Manikrao Gavit (Home).
President Pratibha Patil accepted their resignations with immediate effect.
Pachouri, who took over as chief of Congress in Madhya Pradesh ahead of Assembly polls there later this year, and Rajasekharan resigned on the expiry of their terms in Rajya Sabha.
After a wait of four long years, the youth brigade got a chance to be part of the Government as the induction of the young MPs as ministers of state is an attempt to give shape to the party's plans of building a team of young turks in governance.
The drive to mobilise youths began with the appointment of Rahul Gandhi as a Congress General Secretary in September 2007. Party insiders pointed out that the induction of Scindia and Prasada takes this process ahead.
With this induction that is perhaps Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's last reshuffle, the total strength of the council of ministers has gone up to 80.
"We needed some young and experienced faces to help the people and that is why this expansion," Manmohan Singh said after the reshuffle.
When asked about the non-inclusion of Rahul Gandhi, Singh said, "Rahul is an important leader for us and has desired to work for the party."
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