'The days when less government, more governance were spoken of are well and truly behind us.' 'More government, it is now believed, means more governance,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Will Jayalalithaa fill the vacuum created after Nitish Kumar's exit from BJP-led NDA? Why the UPA government's Cabinet reshuffle ended with a whimper... Why the food security bill was stalled at the last moment... All this and more in this week's Dilli Gupshup.
The reshuffle is likely to take place after the ongoing Budget session ends on April 12, reports Archis Mohan.
Those meeting Modi included BJP's Narayan Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Pritam Munde and Meenakshi Lekhi, Lok Janshakti Party's Pashupati Paras and Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel, sources said.
The Prime Minister tends to keep such decisions close to his chest.
The sources said Modi appreciated Prasad and Javadekar for their work.
Modi, Shah and Nadda have created a strategy to boost the BJP and the government's image.
He hinted the decision was partly due to losing the ministerial berth and also differences with the state BJP leadership.
Pant, a 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan cadre, is currently secretary in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways.
Portfolios of more than half-a-dozen ministers are expected to be changed.
Expecting victory in Haryana and Maharashtra, the party will want to accommodate people from these two states.
Annapurna Devi, Subhas Sarkar and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh will be the new ministers of state for education.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
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.
Several loyal party old guards were unhappy and had expressed their displeasure openly about "migrants" scuttling the chances of them becoming ministers.
The reshuffle could take place before the start of the winter session of Parliament.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
The appointments committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared Bhalla's appointment as OSD in the ministry with immediate effect.
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.
A day after being sworn-in, the new ministers took charge of their portfolios. Here's a look at the various new ministers on their first day at work.
The new Ministers of State sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan include Virendra Kumar, Anant Kumar Hegde and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, former IAS officers Alphons Kannanthanam and R K Singh, former diplomat Hardeep Puri and ex-Mumbai police chief Satyapal Singh. Two other new faces are Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a member of the Lok Sabha from Bihar, and Shiv Pratap Shukla from Uttar Pradesh.
Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena on Saturday appeared to have resolved their differences with the latter deciding to nominate Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai to be included in the Union Cabinet when Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffles and expands his ministry on Sunday.
Far more important than governance is to ensure how different states get necessary representation a'The pressure to expand the council of ministers will come from states where the BJP has formed a government after ousting the Congress,' predicts A K Bhattacharya.
Non-performers were not punished, performers were not rewarded, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
Shashi Tharoor has also been retained as the chairman of the panel on Information Technology.
The overall female strength has rised to 11 which is one of the highest.
L Murugan, 44, is the only newly-sworn minister who is not a member of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
'Till the time the MSM and Modi don't trust one another, expect more Nirmala Sitharamans springing out from nowhere,' says Sudhir Bisht.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has boosted the representation of backward castes, dalits, tribals and women in his Council of Ministers in a big shake-up of his government with a focus on politically crucial states, including the all-important Uttar Pradesh.
Among the panels announced on Thursday is the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) to be headed by the prime minister with Shah as the other member.
The choice of 59-year-old Nadda has come as a bit of surprise as the party had indicated last week that it could take a call on the issue after the membership drive after about six months.
Ministerial expansion: Focus on Purvanchal, Brahmin voters in UP.
Sushma Swaraj startled Modi when she said she would like to be defence minister. That set the PM thinking, says Rajeev Sharma.
In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
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.
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.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to expand his council of ministers on Sunday with top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders maintaining that at least six new faces, including Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar are expected to be inducted.
As many as 20 new faces are expected to be inducted into the Union Council of Ministers on Sunday in the first revamp exercise which is likely to bring in BJP leaders Manohar Parrikar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Bandaru Datttatreya while elevating a few.
