Modi's cabinet reshuffle soon

New Delhi, November 6, 2014 (Agencies) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will likely reshuffle and expand his council of ministers on Sunday, with Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar tipped to get the key defence portfolio and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi set to return as a cabinet minister. TV channels reported Thursday morning that Modi met President Paranab Mukherjee amid the cabinet rejig buzz. The long-awaited revamp of the team that has ruled India since late May will lighten the burden on some ministers, who hold more than one portfolio, and give the Prime Minister a chance to promote high achievers, while getting rid of a few who have failed to keep pace, government and BJP sources said.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who holds additional charge of the defence portfolio, had said early in his tenure that this was a temporary arrangement. The 58-year-old chief minister flew to Delhi early on Wednesday, after cancelling a meeting of his state cabinet, and met BJP chief Amit Shah and Modi. “The Prime Minister did not talk about my joining the Cabinet; we discussed Goa issues,” he said, after meeting Modi. The likely move of the well-regarded chief minister to Delhi will leave the BJP with a big hole to plug in Goa, and party leaders were in discussions about his replacement.

However,  Manohar Parrikar, who is



tipped to be the defence minister, told news agency  that he did not have a discussion on the issue. "Why put the horse before cart?" the news agency quoted him as saying.

Jayant Sinha, who holds a Harvard MBA and is the son of for mer finance minister Yashwant Sinha, is likely to be inducted as minister of state (MoS), either in the defence or finance ministry. Nirmala Sitharaman may be promoted from MoS to Cabinet minister, likely in charge of the commerce and industry ministry, and give up her current additional role as MoS in the finance ministry. Haryana leader Birender Singh, who had crossed over from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the Haryana Assembly election, is understood to be in contention for a berth in the council of ministers. He is likely to get independent charge of a ministry. BJP’s youth wing chief Anurag Thakur, a Lok Sabha MP from Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra MP Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, who was instrumental in uncovering the coal block scam, are other probable candidates. Bihar MPs Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a Brahmin, and Giriraj Singh, a Bhumihar, are also aid to be serious contenders for a place in the council of ministers. MPs from Uttarakhand and West Bengal may miss the bus again, said sources. Modi is understood to be considering lightening the burden of some ministers holding more than one portfolio.