New Delhi: After the formation of the new central team of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the murmur of expansion and reshuffle in the cabinet of the Modi government has intensified. This restructuring can take into account the inclusion of new allies, youth and women as well as the equations of the upcoming assembly elections in the states and the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
How many posts are vacant and why is reshuffle necessary?
Under Article 75-1A of the Constitution, the Union Council of Ministers can have a maximum of 81 ministers including the Prime Minister. At present this number is 69, i.e. 12 posts are vacant. At present there are 14 Union Ministers who are holding the charge of more than one department.
According to NDTV report, the burden of ministries can be balanced through this reshuffle. Also, those ministers can be sent to the organization on whom the party is planning to give responsibility.
Who can be out? One man one post formula
BJP traditionally follows the principle of one person, one post. For this reason, there is talk of removal of many ministers. Dharmendra Pradhan has resigned from the post of Education Minister amid protests over the paper leak case.
After the Rajya Sabha tenure of George Kurien and Ravneet Singh Bittu ended, he resigned from the post of Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Railways. Piyush Goyal has recently been made the National Treasurer in the new team led by Nitin Naveen.
Harsh Malhotra and Pankaj Chaudhary have been appointed as the new state presidents of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh respectively. The Rajya Sabha tenure of Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma is ending in November this year, hence their positions are also considered to be in danger.
Who can become the new minister? Focus on youth and women
At present, more than 12 ministers in the Council of Ministers are above 70 years of age, like Jitan Ram Manjhi is 81 years old. Rammohan Naidu is the youngest cabinet minister at 38 years. There is a possibility of increasing the number of youth and women ministers in the new reshuffle.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal's name is coming up amid discussions about resuming the Akali-BJP alliance in Punjab. However, there is suspense on this at present. At the same time, one of the group of 7 Rajya Sabha MPs who left AAP and joined BJP, led by Raghav Chadha, may get a place.
After the increase in the number of MPs of Shiv Sena Shinde faction, the name of MP Shrikant Shinde is in the race for cabinet post. Apart from this, the faction supporting NDA can also be accommodated under NCPI by rebelling against TMC. This will be the most surprising entry in the Modi cabinet.
Effect of electoral states will be visible
In view of the upcoming assembly elections, new faces from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat may get a place. Apart from states ruled by opposition parties like Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, ministers from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are also being considered for inclusion.