Image: deccanchronicle
Cabinet reshuffle and expansion will take place on Sunday ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing for the BRICS summit. The Cabinet reshuffle will be at 10 am on Sunday morning. The newly appointed ministers will be sworn in on the same day.
Senior ministers Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Uma Bharti reportedly resigned from the Narendra Modi government on Thursday, ahead of the much awaited reshuffle. Reportedly, union minister, Arun Jaitley may be given the defence portfolio that he was heading after the resignation of Manohar Parrikar.
Rudy, whose exit from the Modi Cabinet was confirmed, was a minister of state in the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship. Bharti was heading the union water resources ministry.
Apart from them, Mahendra Lal Pandey also submitted his resignation. Pandey’s exit was rumoured over the past few days after he was chosen as Uttar Pradesh BJP chief.
Rudy, however, would be assigned a vital organisational role in the party. Reports claim that union ministers, Sanjeev Balyan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Kalraj Mishra and Giriraj Singh also submitted their resignations. However, authentication of such news was awaited.
The last cabinet reshuffle happened in July last year. Then Modi inducted 19 new faces and elevated minister of state for environment, Prakash Javadekar to cabinet rank. Five junior ministers were also released.