Salman Khurshid

Salman Khurshid

30 October 2012. Salman Khurshid has been promoted as as external affairs minister and becomes one of the ‘big four’ in the cabinet. “The corrupt are not just protected but also rewarded,” Kejriwal tweeted. After a sting operation, TV channel Aaj Tak alleged financial irregularities in the minister’s family-run trust. Kejriwal had alleged the Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, run by Khurshid and his wife Louise, embezzled Rs. 71 lakh meant for the disabled. Senior parliamentarian S. Jaipal Reddy has been moved from Petroleum Ministry to unimportant Science and Technology Ministry. It was widely speculated that this was due to pressure from some big corporations like Reliance who did not like some of his decisions. Reddy is widely known to be a corruption free politician – a rare commodity in the UPA government. Reacting to media reports about Reddy, activist Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the UPA government was promoting corrupt people while throwing out honest men. In any case the reshuffling of the cabinet by PM Manmohan Sing seems to be side stepping the ant-corruption movement that has taken root in India. It looks as if it was intended to spite Arvind Kejriwal.