BY THE CHIEF EDITOR
Rajagriha, June 18, 2021: A long awaited reshuffle and expansion of the Prime Minister Gheorghe Stefan Marius led-union council of ministers in Vishwamitra finally took place this evening ending speculations among the people. The initial council was formed on 6 March 2021 when newly-elected Prime Minister Gheorghe Stefan Marius took oath and assumed office alongside eight other ministers following their victory in 2021 general election. The cabinet expansion held today saw the unexpected induction of three new ministers and appointment of two deputy prime ministers.
Two of the senior-most cabinet ministers, Union Home Minister Count Farhaz Hazarika and Union Defence & Science and Technology Minister Lord Michal Nowacki were appointed as Deputy Prime Ministers, thereby filling the position which has been vacant since 1 March 2021. Hazarika who was earlier named as Prime Minister-designate is due to succeed Prime Minister Gheorghe Stefan Marius in September this year, meanwhile Nowacki has been one of the monarch's closest men and has been highly praised for his efforts towards the Vishwamitran armed forces and structuring it. The appointment of two deputy prime ministers also mark the revival of the tradition which first began in 2017 of having more than one deputy prime minister under the council of ministers headed by then Prime Minister Tanishkaa Patranabish in July 2017.
Picture: Newly appointed Deputy Prime Ministers Count Hazarika (left) and Lord Nowacki (right).
In an very unexpected move, Ned Vodă was named as cabinet minister and was entrusted with the portfolios of Finance & Law and Justice, which were formerly held by Minister Sir Cristian Dobrev, who was dropped from the union cabinet in the reshuffle. Vodă, who is not a member of the parliament is needed to be elected to the parliament within six months as per the interim constitution. Dobrev was dropped on grounds of inactivity within the government and upon the suggestion of the Prime Minister.
In addition to Vodă, two members of parliament were inducted as Ministers of State, namely Kalapani MP Sir Rory McPhail and Rashtra Niwas MP Abayat Ibithaj. A career military officer in the Royal Vishwamitran Army, Brigadier McPhail, a former member of the opposition Royalist Party of Vishwamitra who quitted the party on various grounds earlier pledged his support to the National People's Congress government and was inducted as the Minister of State for Defence and has played a vital role in formulating various developmental projects in the armed forces. His appointed as the minister of state marks the first in the history of the nation when both the Defence Cabinet Minister & the Minister of State both came from the active military service and the same branch of the armed forces. Alongside, Abayat Ibithaj, who is considered a close associate of Count Hazarika was elected to the parliament from the Rashtra Niwas constituency in a by-election held in late March following the resignation of former Prime Minister Princess Anoushkaa from the constituency after she decided to retain the Brikshasthana constituency, was inducted as a Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs.
With the reshuffle in the union council of ministers, it is expected to the first and the final cabinet changes made during the tenure of Prime Minister Gheorghe Stefan Marius, who is all set to retire from active politics in September 2021. Gheorghe Stefan Marius, who retires from active politics in Vishwamitra is widely expected to be appointed as the President of the powerful Privy Council and as the principal advisor to the monarch.