Ahead of PM Modi's cabinet reshuffle, more ministers quit, new faces expected

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will effect a reshuffle of his council of ministers on Sunday.

Sources say over a dozen new faces could join the ministry, even as eight to nine ministers, including Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Kalraj Mishra, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattareya, Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan and Faggan Singh Kulaste were learnt to have put in their papers on the asking of the Prime Minister.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Ministers of State Giriraj Singh and Mahendra Nath Pandey had resigned yesterday. Some more resignations are expected to make way for new faces.

Among the possible new entrants to the ministry are BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Prahlad Patel, Suresh Angadi, Satyapal Singh and Prahlad Joshi.

The reshuffle, the third such exercise since Modi took over in May 2014, is expected to take into account four major factors – performance, regional balance, coming assembly elections in several states and, most importantly, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

After the swearing in, the Prime Minister is also expected to change portfolios of some existing ministers, with Arun Jaitley likely to shed Defence in order to concentrate on the Finance Ministry. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari could get charge of the crucial Railway Ministry, with present Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu likely to be shifted to another ministry. Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad could get a new assignment while there were indications that the Prime Minister could also spring a last minute surprise by inducting a new face.

The new faces to join the ministry shall be not only from the BJP but also from the allies, including Janata Dal (U) and Shiv Sena, a senior BJP leader said, while admitting that he was not privy to the exact details of reshuffle.

If the PM decides to give one more berth to the Shiv Sena, the lucky person could be Anandrao Adsul, leader of Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai, whom he called back from Delhi airport last time for being offered only a minister of state position.

Shiv Sena, which has 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha, wants nothing but a Cabinet post as it is so far represented by only one cabinet minister — Anant Geete who is Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Sector Enterprises.

The current strength of the council of ministers is 73 and the maximum number of ministers cannot go beyond 81 because of the constitutional amendment limiting it to 15 per cent of total strength of the Lok Sabha.

Over the last few days, it is believed that the Prime Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah had sought report from the performance management division (PMD) of the Cabinet Secretariat. The division set up in 2009 is mandated to assess the effectiveness of ministries and departments. Three months ago, Modi had said at a meeting of the council of ministers that he would evaluate the performance of the ministers.

Sources told DNA, an excel spreadsheet of the ministers and their rating was reportedly submitted to the PM and Shah, and it could be reference point when decisions were taken on changes to the cabinet. A report from the party was also considered, where ministers were judged on the basis of their accessibility and pro-activeness to attend party programmes.

Some of those dropped from the ministry will be accommodated in the party organisation

Uttar Pradesh (14) and Bihar (7) together account for 21 ministers at the Centre and there are indications that more representation could be given to Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh where Assembly polls are slated next year. The Modi government has no Cabinet minister from Rajasthan, despite BJP winning all 25 seats in the state. With BJP having experimented with a non-Jat CM in Haryana, the compulsions of Jat politics may also help Baghpat MP and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Malik to get entry into the ministry.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjiwala attributed the pressure build up on governance issues by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and his party as the main reason behind the Cabinet rejig. "We sincerely hope that Cabinet reshuffle will provide meaningful gains for the country in terms of government and delivery rather than it becoming a mere paper exercise to distribute political soap," Surjewala added. He called current Cabinet a bunch of non performers who are visionless and clueless.