Cabinet Reshuffle on Sunday, new ministers to be sworn in before Modi leaves for China

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday undertake a reshuffle of his council of ministers, said sources.

Union Ministers - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Uma Bharti have already resigned. Whereas Mahendra Nath Pandey was appointed Uttar Pradesh BJP president in place of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, creating one more vacancy in the Council of Ministers.

After resigning from the post of Union Minister of State Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that his resignation from the post was the party's decision and further refuted any strategy behind it.

"This is a decision by the Prime Minister, the government and the party and we are the soldiers of the party. There is no strategy behind this. I am thankful that I got the opportunity to work for the party and will continue to do this. It is their prerogative," he told the media.

This will be the third such reshuffle since Modi took over in May 2014.

AIADMK's Thambi Durai and K Venugopal are being seen as among likely representatives of their party in the Cabinet if the Tamil Nadu party joins the Modi government. At least two members of the JD(U) are also likely to join.

Currently, two key ministries are without a full-time minister.  Finance minister Arun Jaitley and science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan are holding the additional charge of defence and environment portfolio.

Speaking to media, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said he does not expect to continue holding dual charge of finance and defence for very long.

Also, Smriti Irani, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ananth Kumar and Ravi Shankar Prasad are holding two or more portfolios.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had also hinted to have offered to resign after Kalinga-Utkal Express crash but was asked to 'wait' by the Prime Minister.