Ministerial probables are assembling at Lok Kalyan Marg as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address them before the oath-taking ceremony in the evening today.
Twenty-four new faces are set to be inducted into the Modi government, the first big reshuffle of Modi 2.0.
- The reshuffle is being synchronized with the exits of some ministers including Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Sadanand Gowda, and Santosh Gangwar.
- The new faces set to join the Modi Cabinet include former Congress heavyweight from Madhya Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia who is now in the BJP.
- Also on the list are former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane.
Senior BJP organizational heavyweights party general secretary, Bhupender Yadav from Rajasthan is on the list. The reshuffle is being necessitated by some vacancies caused due to deaths like Ram Vilas Paswan and exits of Akali Dal and Shiv Sena. Upcoming elections in UP are a factor in the reshuffle and also the need to add some heft to government with the entry of Bhupender Yadav, a strong organizational face.
From Uttar Pradesh which is headed for make or break elections for the BJP next year, Pankaj Chaudhary, MP from Maharajganj, alliance Anupriya Patel are among the probables as is Vinod Sonkar, Kaushambhi MP and national secretary, BJP and Uttar Pradesh BJP Vice President and Rajya Sabha MP, B L Verma and Rajya Sabha member representing UP, Ajay Mishra, MP from Kheri.
From Maharashtra, Bhiwandi MP, Kapil Patil, Nandurbar MP Heena Gavit, and Beed MP, Pritam Munde are among the new faces.
The JDU is likely to get 3-4 berths from Bihar as the BJP has accepted Nitish Kumar’s demand. The JDU will be represented by RCP Singh, Ramnath Thakur, Chandreshwar Prasad Chandrawanshi and Dileshwar Kamait and Santosh Kushwaha. Amidst the significant churn in Bihar, Pasupati Paras who rebelled against Chirag Paswan is getting a central berth.
Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, MP from Manipur, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP Vice President and Udupi Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje, will be among the fresh faces.
Uttarakhand will be represented by Ajay Bhatt, Odisha MP Ashwini Vaishnaw, Bengal MP Shantanu Thakur, Churu MP Rahul Kaswan, and Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal are also among the probables.
Ministers of State Anurag Thakur and G. Kishan Reddy are set to get a promotion as Cabinet Ministers.
(With IANS inputs)