Finance Minister P Chidambaram was appointed Home Minister after incumbent Shivraj V Patil resigned owing moral responsibility for the Mumbai terror attacks, the worst the country had seen.

63-year-old Chidambaram, who has had a stint as Minister of Internal Security under the late Rajiv Gandhi in late 1980s, was shifted to the Home Ministry after amidst demands for the ouster of Patil, who had come under severe attack for his handling of internal security matters.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself an economist of repute, will hold the Finance portfolio at a time when the country is suffering from the ripple effects of the global recession. Singh had held the Finance portfolio for five years under the late P V Narasimha Rao.

A Rashtrapati Bhawan communique announced the appointment of Chidambaram as Home Minister after acceptance of Patil's resignation. It said the Prime Minister will hold the additional charge of Finance.

Indications that Chidambaram would be given the new responsibility came when he was called as a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Saturday night and he met the Prime Minister this morning to discuss the situation arising out of the Mumbai terror attacks.

After recommending Patil's resignation to President Pratibha Patil, who is away in Indonesia, the Prime Minister spoke to Chidambaram formally conveying the decision to give him the new assignment.

The appointment also came hours before the start of the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister to discuss the Mumbai attacks and evolve a consensus on how to combat terror.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor, M K Narayanan, also quit from his post on Sunday.

Sources claim that Maharashtra Home Minister, R R Patil and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh might also be forced to resign.

Patil assumes responsibility

The 74-year-old Shivraj Patil was inducted into the Union Cabinet despite his defeat from Latur in Maharashtra in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and has been a target of the opposition, as also the detractors within the party over his handling of the internal security situation in the country.

Patil had told the CWC meeting that as the Home minister he "takes the responsibility and whatever the CWC decides, I am ready to do", the sources said.

Patil's remarks came in the wake of criticism by several leaders, including Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal and H R Bhardwaj, they said.

The refrain of these leaders at the meeting was that a strong action is needed in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes and accountability has to be ensured at the higher as well as lower levels.

Patil, who has been in public life for over four decades, was brought into the Manmohan Singh Cabinet as he was considered a complete Gandhi loyalist and Sonia Gandhi had turned down repeated demands for his ouster from the government.

Patil was also one of the serious candidates of the Congress for the post of the President last year after the tenure of A P J Abdul Kalam got over. But, the Left parties, which were supporting the government from outside, had put their foot down on such a proposal.

Warning signals

A clear hint that the Home Minister would be in trouble was given by AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Saturday night.

"Only time will tell," he had remarked after the three-hour long CWC meeting, when asked whether demands for fixing responsibility on the Home Minister were raised at the parley.

Dwivedi had also side stepped another question whether Patil had offered to quit at the CWC meeting. "I have not heard your question," he had told the reporters.

The Home Minister has also been under attack from several opposition parties including the BJP from time to time.

National Security Adviser M K Narayanan has also come under attack in the wake of the terror strikes and the refrain of the AICC for the past two days has been that accountability will be fixed.

The demands for strong action also meant that it was time government set its house in order with some members saying the anger among the people over the attacks could be addressed only if urgent and concrete steps are taken.

The issue of intelligence failure also came up during the meeting and party sources said that the NSA "could also face trouble."