END OF I&B MINISTER SWARAJ'S RAJ

In a surprise move over the weekend, the Indian government relieved information & broadcasting and communications minister Sushma Swaraj of her two portfolios. Swaraj was instead appointed as the chief minister of the union territory of Delhi.

Swaraj was none too pleased with the change, but she accepted the new responsibility stoically. "Often, I had been asked if I were interested and I had said no," she says. "But this time I was told that I had no choice and I had to take up the job for the sake of the BJP party."

Local elections are to be held in Delhi in the next six weeks and Swaraj is expected to help lift the prospects of the BJP party at the polls. She replaces the outgoing chief minister Sahib Singh Verma.