Cabinet reshuffle likely today amid buzz of big shake-up

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to effect the first reshuffle in his Council of Ministers on Wednesday since he assumed the charge for a second term, in what is tipped to be a “major shake-up” of the government as he looks to make it more representative with an eye on political and governance challenges.

BJP leaders Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narayan Rane, all of whom are being seen as probables for induction as ministers in the Modi government, arrived in the national capital on Tuesday. JD(U) leader R CPS ingh and LJP’s Pashupati Kumar Paras, both of whom are expected to represent the BJP’s allies in the government, also reached here from Bihar.

All of them remained tight-lipped to queries about their possibility of joining the government. Leaders of the LJP faction headed by Paras said he had received a call from Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday but claimed that it was related to the birth anniversary of party founder Ram Vilas Paswan. Multiple sources said the reshuffle is likely to take place on Wednesday evening. There has been no official word on the Cabinet reshuffle.

The exercise comes against the backdrop of a massive review, which has stretched for weeks, undertaken by the BJP top brass of the works of Union ministers and the organisation against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ministry of Cooperation: The Modi government also decided to create a new Ministry of Cooperation with an aim to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country, official sources said on Tuesday. This ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, sources added.