Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked Union Minister of State for Finance Gingee Ramachandran and Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh to resign, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader told rediff.com.

The BJP leader, interestingly, said that Vajpayee had sounded off both the ministers a couple of days back.

"Though Gingee Ramachandran came in the limelight after the arrest of his private assistant, R Perumal Swamy, the prime minister was not very happy with his performance. There had been complaints against the minister in several other cases as well," he said.

Ajit Singh, he added, precipitated matters for himself by convening a meeting of his party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, on May 17 and saying he will resign if shifted from the agriculture ministry.

"You know how Vajpayeeji disliked the threatening postures of Mamata Banerjee at one point of time and later she was forced out of the Cabinet. The same thing happened with Ajit Singh," the senior leader said.

On the new faces to be inducted into the Cabinet, he said Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and party leader S Bandhopadhyay are 'certain' to get a place. Prahlad Patel from Madhya Pradesh, Chinmaynand and Rajnath Singh from Uttar Pradesh are also likely to be inducted, he added.