Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet is expected to undergo the much-awaited reshuffle on July 7 with the entry of fresh faces while accommodating NDA allies and keeping poll-bound states, including Uttar Pradesh, in mind.
The new ministers will take oath at 6 pm, according to sources. The new cabinet will be the "youngest-ever" in India's history with a record number of Other Backward Class (OBC) members and more women representation, reports suggested.
The speculations about the reshuffle were rife for quite some time now. Prime Minister Modi held several rounds of discussion with senior party leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief Nadda, and general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh recently. PM Modi is learnt to have personally reviewed the performance of ministers.
The rejig, first overhaul of the PM Modi government since it came to power for the second term in 2019, comes days ahead of the scheduled Monsoon Session of the Parliament and a year before the assembly election in five states. The changes in the cabinet will also factor in the 2024 general election.
With the induction of young faces, the average age of the cabinet is set to be the lowest ever after the revamp, reports said.
The key probables
The new faces likely to make it to the Cabinet, according to the sources, include Jyotiraditya Scindia, who left the Congress for the BJP last year ahead of regime change in Madhya Pradesh, and Sarbananda Sonowal, who was replaced by Himanta Biswa Sarma as Assam Chief Minister after the BJP won a second term in the northeastern state in May. Scindia and Sonowal have reached Delhi.
READ
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)'s Pashupati Paras, former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane, Bihar BJP leader Sushil Modi, and Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi are also on the list of probable ministers.
The other names doing rounds include Bhupender Yadav, Anil Baluni, Anupriya Patel, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Ram Shankar Katharia, RCP Singh, to name a few.
Accommodating allies
The reshuffle is expected to see representatives from more allies being accommodated in the NDA government. As of now, only the Republican Party of India’s Ramdas Athawale is the only non-BJP minister in the Cabinet.
Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant and Shiromani Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur Badal pulled out of the NDA after severing ties with the BJP. LJP founder Ramvilas Paswan passed away last year.
JD(U)'s RCP Singh, Rajiv Ranjan Singh "Lalan" and Santosh Kushwaha are strong probables for finding a place in the expanded Cabinet, representing allies. Also, Apna Dal (S) chief Anupriya Patel could also be accommodated. She refused the MoS berth last year, as per reports. The Apna Dal (S) has been BJP's ally since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The Narendra Modi government currently has 53 ministers, including 21 Cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state with independent charge, and 23 ministers of state. As per the rules, it can have 81 members in the council of ministers, which cannot exceed 15% of the total number of members of the Lok Sabha- 545. Four ministers hold additional charges of five ministries.
Big representation from UP and West Bengal
The reshuffle is expected to find the largest representation from crucial five poll-bound states, including Uttar Pradesh. Sources said PM Modi would induct at least 4-5 new faces from Uttar Pradesh, a state which has ten members in the present cabinet. The representation of BJP MPs from West Bengal is likely to go up. Bongaon MP Shantanu Thakur and Cooch Behar MP Nishith Pramanik are among the probables from West Bengal.
Governors’ reshuffle, new ministry ahead of Cabinet rejig
On July 6, President Ram Nath Kovind named four new governors, including Union Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot, and shifted four others amid Cabinet reshuffle buzz.
Gehlot, 73, was the government’s top Dalit leader and held the social justice portfolio since the NDA came to power in 2014.
Also, read : Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot made Governor of Karnataka amid cabinet reshuffle buzz
The government also set up a separate ‘Ministry of Co-operation’, on the same day thus creating a vacancy for a minister. The ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal, and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country. It will also help in deepening co-operatives as a true people-based movement reaching up to the grassroots, the Cabinet Secretariat said in an official statement on July 6.