Cabinet reshuffle: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP president Amit Shah at the party’s parliamentary board meeting in New Delhi. (PTI Photo/File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to reshuffle his council of ministers this weekend, the third time since he took office with a massive mandate in 2014. On Thursday, BJP president Amit Shah met Modi at the latter’s official residence, during which it is believed that the two discussed the re-assignment of Union ministers. Shah also summoned a host of cabinet ministers, fuelling rumours of the reshuffle. With PM Modi departing to China on Sunday and President Ram Nath Kovind returning to New Delhi on Saturday afternoon, the reshuffle is likely to take place over the weekend.
Here’s a look at Modi’s first Cabinet – May 2014:
In May 2014, Modi was elected as India’s 15th Prime Minister. The first Cabinet under him included 23 ministers.
* Arun Jaitley (Finance, Defence)
* Rajnath Singh (Home)
* Sushma Swaraj (External Affairs)
* Venkaiah Naidu (Minister for Urban Development, Housing, Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs)
* Nitin Gadkari (Transport, Highways and Shipping)
* Ravi Shankar Prasad (Communication and IT and Law and Justice)
* Dr Harsh Vardhan (Health)
* Ram Vilas Paswan (Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution)
* Gopinath Munde (Rural Development and Panchayati Raj)
* H N Ananth Kumar (Chemicals and Fertilizers)
* Uma Bharti (Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation)
* P A Gajapati Raju (Civil Aviation)
* Maneka Gandhi (Women and Child Development)
* Kalraj Mishra (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises)
* Anant G Geete (Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises)
* Harsimrat Badal (Food Processing)
* Narendra S Tomar (Mines and Steel)
* Jual Oram (Tribal Affairs)
* Radha Mohan Singh (Agriculture)
* Thawar C Gehlot (Social Justice and Empowerment)
* Smriti Irani (Human Resource Development)
* Najma Heptulla (Minority Affairs)
* D V Sadanand Gowda (Railways)
You can read their complete profiles here
In November the same year, PM Modi expanded his Cabinet, bringing in 21 new faces and re-allotting key portfolios. Here are some of the key changes he had made:
* Manohar Parrikar (Defence)
* Arun Jaitley (Additional charge of I&B)
* D V Sadananda Gowda (Law and Justice)
* Suresh Prabhu (Railways)
* Harsh Vardhan (Science and Technology)
* J P Nadda (Health)
* Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (Parliamentary Affairs and MoS Minority Affairs)
* Prakash Javadekar (Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
* Mahesh Sharma (Culture and Tourism and MoS Aviation)
* Jagat Prakash Nadda (Health and Family Welfare)
* Ananth Kumar (Chemicals and Fertilizers)
* Chaudhary Birender Singh (Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation)
* Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Food Processing Industries)
Ministers of State
* Giriraj Singh (MoS Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises)
* Ram Shankar Katheria (MoS Human Resource Development)
* Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (MoS Food Processing Industries)
* Babul Supriyo (MoS Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation)
* Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya (MoS Agriculture)
* Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary (MoS Home Affairs)
* Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (MoS Information and Broadcasting)
* Vijay Sampla (MoS Social Justice & Empowerment)
* Hansraj Gangaram Ahir (MoS Chemicals and Fertilizers)
Army chief Gen V K Singh, was relieved of the charge of Development of North-Eastern Region.
Cabinet reshuffle: Ministers being sworn in, in latest Cabinet reshuffle of November 2014. (File)
In July 2016, PM Modi further expanded his cabinet saying it was to reflect the focus of the 2016 Budget, which was centred around the agriculture sector and development of women and weaker sections. He had also said that the expansion was natural and “according to requirement.” The expansion, which factored in poll-bound states, included:
* Smriti Irani (Relieved of HRD and given Textiles)
* Sadanand Gowda (relieved of Law and Justice and given Statistics & Programme Implementation)
* Prakash Javadekar (HRD)
* Arun Jaitley (relieved of I&B)
* Venkaiah Naidu (I&B, Urban Development)
* Ravi Shankar Prasad (additional charge of Law and Justice)
* Ananth Kumar (Parliamentary Affairs, Chemicals and Fertilisers)
Ministers of State
* MJ Akbar (MoS Foreign Ministry)
* P P Chaudhary (Law & Justice, Electronics & IT)
* Subhash Ramrao Bhamre (Defence)
* Arjun Ram Meghwal (Finance, Corporate Affairs)
* Anil Madhav Dave (Independent Charge of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
* Ramesh Jigajinagi (Drinking Water & Sanitation)
* Parshottam Rupala (Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Panchayati Raj)
* Jasvantsinh Bhabhor (Tribal Affairs)
* Mahendra Nath Pandey (HRD)
* Faggan Kulaste (Health & Family Welfare)
* Vijay Goel (Independent Charge Youth Affairs and Sports, Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation)
*Anupriya Patel (Health & Family Welfare)
* Mansukh Mandaviya (Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Chemicals & Fertilizers)
* S S Ahluwalia (Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs)
* Rajen Gohain (Railways)
* C R Chaudhary (Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution)
* Ajay Tamta (Textiles)
* Ramdas Athawale (Social Justice & Empowerment)
* Krishna Raj (Women & Child Development)
Five ministers, including Nihalchand, Ram Shankar Katheria, Sanwar Lal Jat, Manuskhbhai D Vasva and M K Kundariya, tendered their resignation to PM Modi ahead of the shuffle. Read the full list here.
Cabinet reshuffle: PM Modi’s Cabinet after the expansion in July 2016. (Twitter/@narendramodi/File)
Now, the stage is set for another expansion of the Union Cabinet. The previous expansions were conducted keeping in mind the high-stake Assembly elections in key states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Now, other factors such as the JD(U) and unified AIADMK entering the NDA fold will hold significance in PM Modi’s decision. Changes may also be made in the wake of elections to Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra.
Three key positions are currently vacant; Arun Jaitley was given additional charge of Defence after Manohar Parrikar was elected Chief Minister of Goa and Venkaiah Naidu, now Vice-President, had held the I&B portfolio before resigning from the government. Anil Madhav Dave, who held Independent Charge of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, passed away in May this year. He was suffering from pneumonia.
Mahendra Nath Pandey is likely to be relieved of MoS HRD, along with Rajiv Pratap Rudy (MoS Independent Charge for Skill Development), Faggan Singh Kulaste (MoS Health), Kalraj Mishra (MoS MSME) and Sanjeev Balyan (MoS Water Resources). Read more here.
