Sibal gets additional charge of law, CP Joshi to be new railway minister

Kapil Sibal will get additional charge of law ministry and C P Joshi A will handle the railway portfolio . The move comes in the wake of resignations of Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal. Sibal and Joshi will be in charge of these portfolios in addition to their existing ministries of telecom and IT and road and transport respectively. Prime Minister Manmohan SinghA has written to President Pranab Mukherjee recommending the changes. On Friday, Bansal and Kumar had slipped in their resignations. Bansal has been accused of corruption after his nephew Vijay Singla was arrested for allegedly accepting bribe of upto Rs 90 Crore to provide a plum posting for a senior official in the Railways. Though Bansal has denied any knowledge of the deal, the CBI is expected to interrogate him soon to follow up on allegations of his involvement in the case. Ashwani Kumar has been accused of interfering in the investigations of the coal scam by the CBI and for vetting the draft report of the investigative agency meant be submitted to the Supreme Court. C P Joshi had earlier held temporary of railways last year after Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy resigned when his party quit the UPA coalition government. Sources have indicated that there could be a reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers to fill up some vacancies caused by the DMK's exit from the government and placing new nominees in the departments being held as additional charge.