Indian cabinet reshuffled as elections loom Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh unveiled seven new cabinet appointments on Sunday as the ruling Congress party seeks to entrench economic reforms ahead of a general election in the next 18 months. Flanked by Sonia Gandhi, Congress leader, Mr Singh watched as the Congress-led ruling coalition swore in 22 new cabinet members and junior ministers. But the list of mostly familiar names dashed expectations that the cabinet would be dramatically rejuvenated with young supporters of Rahul Gandhi. Indian commentators speculated that the reshuffle would be followed by a reorganisation of the Congress party itself and the elevation of Mr Gandhi to a new post under his mother. Salman Khurshid, formerly minister of law and justice, becomes the new foreign minister. He replaces S.M. Krishna, an 80-year-old Congress party stalwart, who resigned on Friday. Veerappa Moily takes control of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Palaniappan Chidambaram, the finance minister who is spearheading efforts to curb the budget deficit and promote foreign investment, will remain in his post. "The emphasis really is going to be on the [Congress] party," political columnist Sidharth Bhatia told NDTV television. All this is to create a solid party organisational structure. The withdrawal from the governing coalition of Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal-based Trinamool Congress - in protest over a cut in fuel subsidies and the opening of the retail trade to foreign investors - has destabilised Mr Singh's government and increased the chances of an early general election. Mr Singh, who is also 80, insisted on Sunday that the elections would be held as planned in 2014. I don't see early elections. Elections will be held in due course," Mr Singh said, adding that he hoped there would be no more reshuffles before the polls. The Bharatiya Janata party, the Hindu nationalist opposition, is hoping to capitalise on disarray in the Congress party after several corruption scandals and disputes in the coalition over measures to liberalise the economy announced in recent weeks. The BJP described the reshuffle as "an exercise in vain," arguing that the government had lost its credibility and should seek an early election. Like Congress, however, the BJP lacks an obvious candidate for prime minister and a clear idea of how it would manage the economy. Narendra Modi, the BJP chief minister of Gujarat who is expected to be re-elected in December after campaigning on his economic record, is regarded by some BJP supporters and Indian business leaders as a future prime minister. In the government reshuffle, Dinsha Patel, a Congress politician from Gujarat, was promoted to the ministerial portfolio in charge of mines.