New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to announce Wednesday at 6 pm the youngest-ever cabinet reshuffle in history, with more women ministers and special representation given to those with more administrative experience, said news reports. This will be Modi’s first cabinet reshuffle since he started his second term in 2019.
Ahead of the Union cabinet rejig, 12 members of the Council of Ministers including IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, information and broadcasting minister, Prakash Javadekar, labour minister Santosh Gangwar, health minister Harsh Vardhan, education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and chemicals and fertilisers minister Sadananda Gowda, among others have resigned.
Ministers of state for environment Babul Supriyo, human resources development Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, women and child development Debasree Chaudhuri, jal shakti Ratan Lal Kataria, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries Pratap Sarangi, and Thaawarchand Gehlot, have also quit.
The President of India accepts resignation of 12 members of the Council of Ministers including IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank and others: Rashtrapati Bhavan pic.twitter.com/mNbP2V3lhn
— ANI (@ANI) July 7, 2021
According to sources from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ministerial probables on Wednesday evening met Prime Minister Modi at his residence. Those meeting Modi included BJP’s Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Sunita Duggal, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ajay Mishra, Heena Gavit, Shantanu Thakur and Kapil Patil, Janata Dal (United)’s R.C.P Singh, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)’s Pashupati Paras and Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel.
According to PTI, some ministers of state, including G. Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Thakur, were also present at the meeting, and they may be elevated.
Union ministers R.K. Singh, Mansukh Mandaviya and Hardeep Singh Puri may also be promoted, sources told PTI.
According to news reports, the new cabinet will have a significant number of ministers from the other backward classes, and the average education will also be higher, with “PhDs, MBAs, post-graduates and professionals”.
The Union Cabinet, which can have 81 members, currently has 53 ministers, which leaves room for 28 ministers to be filled in.
(With inputs from PTI)