India, June 27: Though there has been no official word on cabinet expansion or reshuffle, speculation has once again gathered pace as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met political leaders from Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).
As many as 27 probable, including heavyweights Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sushil Modi, Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane and Bhupender Yadav could be part of the massive reshuffle expansion of the Union Cabinet reportedly imminent.
The new ministers in the Modi government, who are likely to take oath in include former CM Sonowal, newly joined party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi; senior BJP organisational heavyweights party general secretary, Bhupender Yadav from Rajasthan and Kailash Vijayvargiya, from Madhya Pradesh.
Also on the master list are former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane, besides, Maharashtra Beed MP Pritam Munde and Gopinath Munde’s daughter is on the reshuffle candidates list.
Rajya Sabha MP Anil Jain, Odisha MPs, Ashwini Vaishnaw and former Baijayant Panda; former Railway Minister from Bengal Dinesh Trivedi are also on the list.
The lone entrant from Delhi will be New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi.
Amid the significant churn in Bihar, Pasupati Paras who rebelled against Chirag Paswan is likely getting a central berth from LJP, as are JDU nominations R.C.P. Singh and Santosh Kumar.
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The reshuffle is being necessitated by some vacancies caused due to untimely deaths like Ram Vilas Paswan and Suresh Angadi and exits of Akali Dal and Shiv Sena.
Many ministers are saddled with multiple portfolios due to the deaths and exits. Upcoming elections in UP are a factor in the reshuffle and also the need to add some heft to the government with the entry of Bhupender Yadav, a strong organisational face.
Since PM Modi came back to power in 2019, this will be the first such reshuffle cum expansion.
