Prime Minister Narendra Modi will effect the third reshuffle of his Council of Ministers on Sunday morning, for which the process has already been set in motion with the resignations of seven ministers.
Ministers of State Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey resigned late on Thursday night. Uma Bharti, Bandaru Dattatreya and Kalraj Mishra have also quit. The reshuffle is expected to factor in political considerations such as upcoming Assembly elections as well as merit and performance in the new inductions and simultaneous dismissals of ministers.
The Cabinet is now 73-strong, but it can go up to 81 members and still be within the Constitutional cap of 15 per cent of the strength of 545 Lok Sabha members. The BJP is expected to accommodate its new allies, especially the Janata Dal (United), which is reportedly planning to send Rajya Sabha MPs RCP Singh and Santosh Kushwaha; the AIADMK has not yet resolved the question of who from the two party factions is to be sent to the Cabinet and has reportedly not received an invitation to join the Cabinet so far.
Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is another likely candidate for elevation to the Cabinet, as are party veteran Om Mathur and MP from Baghpat Satyapal Singh, Rakesh Singh or Prahlad Patel and Mahesh Girri.
All eyes on Defence The biggest question is about the Defence Ministry. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley holds additional charge of Defence, but he has said he does not expect this arrangement to continue.
The other significant question is about Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, whose offer to quit in the wake of recent train accidents had been put on hold pending the reshuffle.
There is a possibility of Prabhu being moved to the Environment Ministry and an integrated ministry being created for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping along with Railway. Road Transport is headed by Nitin Gadkari, who is among the top performers in the Cabinet.