New Delhi: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaving for the Brics summit in China on Septmber 3, speculation is rife that the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle and expansion of his council of ministers could take place before he leaves. Other than representatives of the NDA’s new ally, the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), representatives of Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK and the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party could also find a place in the Union council of ministers.
While Maharashtra politics is abuzz with rumours that the NCP is holding back-channel talks with the BJP, whose ties with the Shiv Sena are said to be on the brink of collapse, senior NCP leader and former Union minister Praful Patel has categorically rejected such rumours.
West Bengal is also abuzz with rumours that former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, who has been sidelined within the Trinamul Congress, could join the saffron fold and find a place in Mr Modi’s Cabinet. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had offered to resign after a spate of rail accidents recently, but he had been asked by the Prime Minister to wait.
With a key coordination meeting between the RSS and the BJP due to take place in Mathura from September 1 for three days, which is likely to be attended by BJP president Amit Shah and some senior leaders, there is also a possibility that expansion and reshuffle could take place after Mr Modi returns from his visits to China and Myanmar.
Speculation is rife that BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe could be among the new faces in the government, while health minister J.P. Nadda’s name is doing the rounds as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. Senior minister Kalraj Mishra has, meanwhile, crossed the unofficial age bar of 75 years.
Around two dozen ministries could be affected by the reshuffle and expansion, sources said. While some ministers, including finance minister Arun Jaitley, science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan, textile minister Smriti Irani and rural development minister Narendra Singh Tomar, are holding additional portfolios, some ministers could also be elevated. Speculation is rife too that a few ministers could be sent back to the party for organisational work, to assist the BJP president as the party starts preparing for the 2019 general election.
The last Cabinet reshuffle-expansion took place in July 2016, and prior to that in November 2014.
