C.P Joshi loosing shine, shifted to Transport Ministry

The cabinet reshuffle Wednesday saw some Congress leaders gaining ministries perceived as important while a few others got portfolios that are less in the limelight. Rajasthan's C.P. Joshi is among the cabinet ministers shifted to ministries that appear to be less meaty than their earlier assignments, to head Road & Surface Transport Ministry. Joshi was in charge of the Rural Development Ministry, which oversees implementation of some ambitious social sector schemes of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The UPA has laid much emphasis on rural transformation and the charge of the ministry has now been given to Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister of Maharashtra, where a scheme similar to MGNREGA was already being implemented.
Union minister C P Joshi the failure to handle the UPA goverment's flagship programme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) resulted in his transition from rural development to surface transport. Joshi had not acted on a letter from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to raise MGNREGA wages and also stood in contempt of an Andhra Pradesh High Court order. Joshi was earlier seen as a trusted man and was given the task of implementing the flagship programme. But MGNREGA under Joshi not only kicked up a huge storm across the country with misappropriation of funds but the programme, which many termed as the stepping stone of the UPA's victory, was fast proving to be reason for discontent among masses.