Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee may reshuffle his Cabinet before embarking on his four-nation tour on May 28, an official told rediff.com on Wednesday.
"There are intricacies (of the tour) that have to be taken care of. Therefore, the prime minister is inclined to make it (reshuffle) before he leaves for Germany, Switzerland, St Petersburg (Russia) and France," the official said.
Nothing substantial emerged regarding the reshuffle in the meeting among Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Tuesday and another meeting is needed to finalise the issue, he said.
Vajpayee, his deputy Lal Kishenchand Advani, BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh attended the meeting.
BJP and National Democratic Alliance members are lobbying for Cabinet berths, he said.
There is speculation that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has written to Vajpayee asking him not to give her the coal portfolio, which he was thinking of giving to her.
She reportedly wants the rural development portfolio to help the Trinamool-BJP combine in West Bengal to battle the Left Front government.
One BJP Lok Sabha member from Jharkhand said with the general election just a year away, the party members want to retain the rural development portfolio.
Similarly, the Dravida Munnetra Kazgham wants the commerce portfolio, which was held by Murasoli Maran, who is undergoing treatment in the United States.
