Arun Shourie may be at helm of a lackluster plan panel

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government appears to have finally decided to reconstitute the Planning Commission, and there are indications that former Union minister Arun Shourie is likely to be appointed its deputy chairman.

A formal announcement is expected to be made soon, after the government’s top leadership manages to firm up names of the panel’s prospective members, sources said.

While Mr Shourie is expected to head the commission, some other sources claimed that the names of former minister Suresh Prabhu and former RBI governor Bimal Jalan are also doing the rounds.

Knowing well the plight of Chief Ministers at the hands of the commission, which the PM has himself experienced in his long tenure as Gujarat CM, sources said the new body is likely to “lose the power of allocating funds to states.” They however contended that the reconstituted plan panel will “continue to have power” to give clearances to proposals mooted by the Centre.

“The power to allocate Central funds to states will be vested in respective ministries, for which the  of the finance ministry will work as a coordinator,” a source said.