Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar met senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, fueling speculation about a leadership change in the state. The meeting occurs amid reports of Shivakumar pressing for the chief minister's post.
"Honest ministers were demoted and punished (in Cabinet reshuffle) while those who matter in elections are allotted berths in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet," he said. Advani said he was disappointed with the "spate of scams tumbling out of the Centre's closet".
Fighting shy of affecting a complete overhaul of the union council of ministers where many ministers are holding dual charges, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi confined themselves to a mere change of portfolios before the monsoon session of Parliament begins on August 8. Renu Mittal reports.
The Chief Minister has been under intense pressure for some time now, over expansion and rejig of the Cabinet not taking place, to make way for the fresh faces, ahead of Assembly elections by April-May next year.
The BJP is soon likely to announce new positions for the senior former Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar, sources said.
All those in the Union council of ministers with two portfolios are likely to lose at least one and major administrative changes are expected in a Cabinet reshuffle due on October 28 or 29 on the return of President Pranab Mukherjee from Durga Puja celebrations in West Bengal.
It wasn't known what Sonia Gandhi's reaction was.
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narayan Rane, all of whom are being seen as probables for induction as ministers in the Modi government, arrived in the national capital on Tuesday amid indications that the Union Council of Ministers is likely to be expanded on Wednesday.
The meeting was held at the newly built convention centre at Pragati Maidan, which will host the G20 summit in September.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that the party had always given paramount important to the pride of its party and Maharashtra and never sold its self respect for the sake of power.
The theme of the reshuffle is to fulfill Modi's earlier promise of 'maximum governance, minimum government.' Some key ministries are likely to be merged.
The Congress on Saturday maintained silence over Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma's renewed attack on outside ally Samajwadi Party, which is hopeful that he will be removed during a minor Cabinet reshuffle being talked about soon.
"Wah kya girlfriend hai. Apne kabhi dekha hai 50 crore ka girlfriend? (What a girlfriend? Have you ever seen a 50-crore girlfriend), Modi said at an election rally, in an apparent attack on Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.
PM's new Council can have a macro-economic impact.
During a cabinet meeting earlier in the day, Modi lauded both Naqvi and Singh for their contributions to the country during their ministerial tenure, sources said.
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.
Not only the BJP but key bureaucrats are also known to have hinted to the top leadership of the need to expand the Cabinet.
Amid talks of a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet and recasting of Bharatiya Janata Party's decision-making bodies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held consultations with party chief Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Shiv Sena leader and Heavy Industries Minister Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil on Saturday resigned from the Union Cabinet.
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.
Nine MLAs, including Babul Supriyo, took oath as ministers in West Bengal on Wednesday, in a major reshuffle of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet.
The Congress has refused to induct the DMK nominee T R Baalu in the Cabinet, in place of A Raja, who resigned as telecom minister amidst serious charges of irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
Amid talks of a Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the performance of various ministries.
He hinted the decision was partly due to losing the ministerial berth and also differences with the state BJP leadership.
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.
Reports suggest that the prime minister has been evaluating his ministers' performances with an eye on implementing key government schemes before the next round of crucial state assembly polls.
There seems to be no end to re-allocation of portfolios even after Sunday's major Cabinet reshuffle with S Jagathrakshakan of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday being given the portfolio of minister of state for commerce and industry.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said he would be making "minor changes" in his Cabinet and a new external affairs minister will be in place "as soon as possible".
P Chidambaram was on Tuesday made the finance minister as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook a minor reshuffle in portfolios in the Union Cabinet, necessitated by the exit of Pranab Mukherjee in June. According to the announcement, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde is the new home minister in place of Chidambaram.
Portfolios of more than half-a-dozen ministers are expected to be changed.
Vajpayee held consultations with Deputy Prime Minister Advani, BJP president Venkaiah Naidu and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in this regard on Monday night.
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.
The RSS wants three nominees inducted: Tejaswi Surya, the young BJP MP from Bengaluru South, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, a Rajya Sabha member, and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much-speculated Cabinet reshuffle is likely to take place on Monday, reports R Rajagopalan/Rediff.com.
The Prime Minister's Office has also prepared a detailed backgrounder about each member in the Union Council of Ministers.
After her elevation as defence minister, Sitharaman has become a member of the cabinet committee on security headed by the prime minister.
A reshuffle of the All India Congress Committee office bearers and the Union Cabinet is on the cards and is likely to take place "soon" say highly placed sources in the Congress. Renu Mittal reports.
