Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda amid speculation about a reshuffle in the Union cabinet, an exercise Modi has not undertaken since forming the government for a second time in May 2019.
This came amid the buzz of an imminent reshuffle in the Union Cabinet.
The appointment of aggressive campaigners like Varun Gandhi, Uma Bharti, Ananth Kumar and Ajit Shah in senior positions within the party is a clear indication of which way the BJP wind is going to blow.
Now a fresh list proposing the cabinet changes will be issued and the chief minister has informed Raj Bhavan to tentatively make arrangements for the swearing-in of new ministers on Wednesday.
The BJP is soon likely to announce new positions for the senior former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, sources said.
With this, the Congress's strength in the 40-member assembly reduced to 14 from 16.
"This time we want to prepare the organisation very strongly. The workers should get respect, everyone's participation is important, there should be balance in power, and we should move forward taking all sections of the society along," Pilot told reporters after hour-long meeting with Sonia Gandhi.
Narendra Modi's ministry expansion makes disdain clear for others who are supposedly allies, quite unlike the Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance.
This is the first reshuffle in the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.
Apart from Smriti, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar took over as law and parliamentary affairs ministers respectively.
'How and why did we lose so many seats in places where we were expected to win?'
Several loyal party old guards were unhappy and had expressed their displeasure openly about "migrants" scuttling the chances of them becoming ministers.
The BJP ignored the principle of the Cabinet's joint responsibility and the adage of the buck stopping at the top, observes Amulya Ganguli.
President Ram Nath Kovind has approved the appointment of a few Governors and changes in portfolios of some others.
He hinted the decision was partly due to losing the ministerial berth and also differences with the state BJP leadership.
Parrikar's poor health has sparked speculation over his continuation as the chief minister of Goa, and Shah had recently sent a central party leaders team to the coastal state to speak to allies and take stock of political situation.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Thursday met senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, and is also likely to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief J P Nadda during his two-day visit, sources said.
Annapurna Devi, Subhas Sarkar and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh will be the new ministers of state for education.
The 61 year-old leader was the Minister for Home Affairs, Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislature in Yediyurappa's council of ministers that was dissolved on Monday and was also the Minister in-charge of Haveri and Udupi Districts.
On Tuesday, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti kicked up a storm when she used expletives during a campaign speech in Delhi. While campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party, she called the electorate to choose between Ramzadon and h********n.
Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion on Wednesday, several Union Ministers, including Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar resigned from their posts.
The ruling Shiv Sena on Wednesday announced the candidature of Sachin Ahir and Aamshya Padvi for the upcoming Maharashtra legislative council polls as it decided against renominating senior leader and state minister Subhash Desai and another party veteran Diwakar Raote for the election to the upper house of the state legislature.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inducting four new faces from Karnataka into his ministry, and chemicals and fertilisers minister D V Sadanda Gowda resigning ahead of the reshuffle, the state's representation in the Union council of ministers now stands at six.
Shashi Tharoor has also been retained as the chairman of the panel on Information Technology.
Congress Legislature Party leader and Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah said no one would leave the Congress and there was no disgruntlement either.
The ED had arrested Chatterjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress secretary-general, on July 23 in connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment drives by the School Service Commission.
'The BJP has sent out a message that its allies are at its mercy.' 'The allies cannot pressurise or bargain with the BJP any more,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The development comes at a time when Parrikar, 62, is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.
The crisis staring at the 13-month old government after over a dozen MLAs of the ruling combine quit on Saturday deepened with two Ministers and Independent MLAs -- H Nagesh and R Shankar -- resigning from the ministry and withdrawing their support to the coalition.
'Ask the chief minister to give in writing that the police must not do their job. We will back down and stop checking vehicles.' Days after DSP Shreshta Thakur confronted BJP workers, she was transferred.
The expansion was the first by Sarma since he assumed chief ministership of the state about 13 months ago.
The names of two veterans -- Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and Speaker of Legislative Assembly Rajendra Arlekar -- are being considered for the top post in case Parrikar moves to Delhi.
The crucial meeting of the Sangh, which is an annual event, is being considered significant in the wake of assembly polls in the state.
The sources said Modi appreciated Prasad and Javadekar for their work.
A statement to this effect was made in Patna by RCP Singh, a close aide of Kumar, amid buzz on cabinet expansion at the Centre.
His visit comes close on the heels of the party holding a series of review meetings in Lucknow, which had fuelled speculation of a ministerial reshuffle in the state.
With two cabinet ministers and three ministers of state, the Northeastern region was on Wednesday handsomely rewarded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first reshuffle of his ministry in the second tenure.
The reshuffle could take place before the start of the winter session of Parliament.
The Bharatiya Janata Party announced a major organisational reshuffle in the party, appointing Hindu hardliner Keshav Maurya and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa as state party presidents in Uttar Pradesh and Karntaka respectively.
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