Political Diary

Anand Sharma was named on Thursday as trade minister in the new government, a key post with responsibility for negotiating the country’s stand at the Doha round of global trade talks.

A government statement said Murli Deora had been reappointed oil minister, and Kamal Nath, trade minister in the previous government, would become minister for road transport and highways.

Sharma, who was the junior foreign minister in the previous government and has his roots in youth politics, has little experience of economic portfolios and is likely to toe the line set by his reformist boss, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Sharma is an articulate speaker and defended a controversial nuclear deal with the United States in parliament last year.India is a leading negotiator for emerging nations in the struggling Doha round of talks, and its efforts to protect poor farmers have been one of the stumbling blocks to an agreement.

Sharma is unlikely to soften India’s pro-farmer stand at the talks but could be flexible in giving market access in other sectors, analysts said.

While the global financial crisis may have made market reforms unfashionable, it is the ruling Congress party itself that may prove a bigger obstacle to deep change.

Congress won the election not only because of four years of rapid growth but also because of a pro-farm policy that may make it difficult for the government to make a radical shift in its position at the Doha talks.

India expects the next round of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to start in January or February 2010.The appointment of Kamal Nath, who is seen as pro-business, as road transport and highways minister signals the government’s intention to speed up the implementation of infrastructure projects which had slowed under the previous government.