NEW DELHI — With two ministers having resigned and nine others understood to have been asked to quit to pave the way for new faces, the stage is set for the Sept. 3 reshuffle and expansion of the Union Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Ministers of State Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Skill Development, and Sanjeev Balyan, Agriculture, have resigned, while a few others have been asked to resign from their posts, ahead of the reshuffle Sept. 3 morning.
"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 10:00 a.m. on Sunday," officials said.
Union Ministers Uma Bharti, Radha Mohan Singh and Kalraj Mishra – all Cabinet members – Giriraj Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Bandaru Dattatreya and Faggan Singh Kulaste – all ministers of state – are believed to have been nudged by Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah to put in their papers, informed sources said. Steel Minister Birender Singh is also likely to be axed.
Minister of State for Human Resource Development Mahendra Nath Pandey, who was Sept. 1 appointed as the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief, is also on the way out of the ministry.
Rudy said it was a party decision and that he had resigned. Balyan said he was asked to resign and he would always follow the party directives. Bharti, however, was evasive when asked if she had resigned. "I have not heard your questions. I have no right to speak on the issue. Only those who have been authorized by the party chief can speak," she told reporters.
Sources in the BJP said the decision to seek resignations from ministers was based purely on performance.
"The prime minister and the party president has assessed the work of the ministers, and then have taken a call on some of them," a senior BJP leader close to the leadership told IANS on condition of anonymity.
He said ministers, including Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal and Manoj Sinha, are likely to be promoted. Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari's name is doing the rounds for the railway minister's post. There is speculation that an integrated Ministry of Transport, including the portfolios currently held by Gadkari, could be created. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had offered to quit last week in the wake of two major back-to-back train derailments that claimed more than 30 lives. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept it on hold.
Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra may be made a governor as he has crossed the unofficial bar of 75 years for one to hold a ministerial post at the Center.
Amit Shah, who is in Vrindavan to attend the three-day Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh coordination meet, is likely to discuss the proposed changes with RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat there.
The new faces likely to join the union government include Bhupendra Yadav, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, both Rajya Sabha members; and Satyapal Singh, Prahlad Patel, Mahesh Girri and Harish Dwivedi, all members of the Lok Sabha.
The reshuffle is mostly likely to see the entry of Janata Dal-United nominees into the ministry, with the party striking an alliance with the BJP in Bihar recently. From the JD-U quota Rajya Sabha MP R.C.P. Singh and Santosh Kumar are strong contenders.
Ally Shiv Sena may get one more berth with Anil Desai, a Rajya Sabha member, making the grade. However, the other new ally, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, about which much has been speculated, is unlikely to get berths for now in view of the fact that the party is undergoing a period of crisis.
Some election-bound states, including Congress-ruled Karnataka, could get greater representation in the Council of Ministers. Prahlad Joshi and Suresh Angadi, both MPs from Karnataka, could make a debut at the Center. Likewise, Anurag Thakur, Lok Sabha member from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, could get the nod. Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections are due later this year, while Karnataka Assembly polls are slated for next year.
There is speculation that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may shed the additional charge of defense he is holding now.
A cabinet reshuffle has been on the cards since Manohar Parrikar resigned as defense minister to become Chief Minister of Goa in March this year. Arun Jaitley has been holding additional charge of the Defense Ministry since then.
Talk of a reshuffle gained ground after Jaitley Aug. 31 hinted that he would not continue to hold the defense portfolio for long. "At least not for very long," Jaitley said Aug. 31 in response to questions on how long he would continue as defense minister.
Besides Jaitley, three other union ministers are also in charge of multiple ministries.
Textiles Minister Smriti Irani is holding additional charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, while Narendra Tomar holds both the Urban Development and Rural Development Ministries, following M. Venkaiah Naidu's exit to become vice president of India.
Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan holds the additional charge of the Environment Ministry following the death of Anil Madhav Dave in May.
The last Cabinet reshuffle took place in July last year, in which Modi inducted 19 new faces and elevated Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar to Cabinet rank. Five junior ministers were also dropped.
The size of the ministry at the moment is 73, including the prime minister. Of them, 24 are of the cabinet rank, 12 are ministers of state with independent charge while 36 are ministers of state.
