40 years ago October 23, 1986: Major cabinet reshuffle

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on October 23, 1986.

This is the front page of The Indian Express published on October 23, 1986.

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2 min readOct 23, 2026 06:40 AM IST First published on: Oct 23, 2026 at 06:40 AM IST

In a major reshuffle, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi inducted Arjun Singh into the cabinet and dropped Arun Nehru. While Singh gets the Communications portfolio, J Vengal Rao has been given Industry. N D Tiwari is the Minister for External Affairs. Shiv Shanker now retains only Commerce.

‘Heavyweights’ inducted

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said he had inducted some “heavyweights” into his Council of Ministers to give added dynamism to the government. Asked about the re-induction of Arjun Singh, the PM remarked, “We require experienced and able people.”

Tripathi on Arjun Singh

Congress (I) working president Kamlapati Tripathi welcomed Arjun Singh’s removal from the party post of vice-president. Asked for his comment on Singh’s induction into the Council of Ministers, Tripathi said, “ He is now the right person in the right place.”

Tit-for-tat expulsions

In retaliation for the expulsion of 55 Soviet diplomats and employees from the US, the Soviet Union decided to expel 160 US diplomats and employees. This is to keep parity with the strength of Soviet diplomatic employees in the US. The present strength of the US staff in Moscow and Leningrad is 460 whereas there are 300 Soviet embassy employees in Washington and San Francisco.