At least 18 new ministers are expected to be inducted in the Union Cabinet, according to Live Hindustan. PM Modi was expected to reshuffle his cabinet earlier, but the exercise was put on hold due to Covid-19.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a crucial meeting at his residence on Tuesday amid reports of a cabinet reshuffle. The cabinet rejig is expected to take place later this week, according to Hindustan Times' sister publication Live Hindustan.
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Jagat Prakash Nadda and many other ministers are expected to attend the meeting, Live Hindustan reported.
The meeting may take place at 5pm.
At least 18 new ministers are expected to be inducted in the Union Cabinet, according to Live Hindustan report. The expansion will be done keeping in view the upcoming state elections next year.
The expansion is expected to take place after July 7, according to Live Hindustan.
This comes a day after PM Modi held meeting with Shah and BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, news agency PTI reported. The Monday's marathon meeting was called to give final touches to the details of a likely expansion of the Union Cabinet, according to PTI.
If the prime minister goes ahead with the exercise, he will be expanding his Council of Ministers for the first time since assuming the charge in May 2019 for his second innings.
BJP leaders Sarbananda Sonowal, the former Assam chief minister who made way for Himanta Biswa Sarma in the state, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sushil Modi are seen as strong ministerial probables amid indications that some allies of the saffron party may also get berths.
PM Modi met Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar last month where the two leaders believed to have discussed the accommodation of Janata Dal (United) leaders in the Union Cabinet. The JD(U) had rejected the "symbolic" representation in 2019, and has now expected to get a good bargain.
PM Modi also met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath a few weeks ago, giving rise to speculation that the state going to polls next year may figure high in the list of new inductees.
The current strength of the Council of Ministers is 53, besides Modi, and its maximum number can be 79.
There are many ministers, like Piyush Gyoal and Hardeep Puri, who are holding additional charges. The cabinet reshuffle is expected to take some load off these ministers. In 2019, there were 57 ministers - 24 cabinet rank, nine ministers of state with independent charge and 24 ministers of state. After Shiv Sena severed ties with the BJP and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) founder Ram Vilas Paswan passed away, the strength of cabinet ministers has been reduced to 21.
Source - HT
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