Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi met again on Monday to put the final touches to the proposed reshuffle which has been scheduled for 5 pm on Tuesday evening. However, nothing can be said with certainty as far as the Cabinet reshuffle and the event of swearing-in ceremony goes.
The reshuffle will have changes in the middle order with the top four portfolios remaining unchanged.
Sources say that till late on Monday night the final contours of the reshuffle and the portfolios were not finalised and that another meeting was on the cards for Tuesday morning. It is learnt that after his return from Ahmedabad, where he had gone to file his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections, Ahmed Patel is again said to be reviewing the list and more meetings are slated for late tonight.
Indications are that a number of ministers are being dropped, while there will be inductions in the minister of state level, promotions to both cabinet and MOS independent charge as well as changes in some key portfolios.
It is learnt that Union Road Minister C P Joshi met the congress president a few days back and offered to quit the government and work for the party. Sources say that Joshi has been uncomfortable in the government and would much prefer to have a major responsibility in the organisation at the Centre or be sent back to the state.
But since there is no vacancy in Rajasthan at either the government or the pradesh congress committee level, and with no vacancy for bringing in a brahmin at the All India Congress Commitee, the leadership is finding it difficult to adjust him in a suitable slot, should he be removed from the government.
For the moment there is no clear word on his fate. Sources say that amongst the prominent ministers likely to be shown the door are Murli Deora, who has already handed over his resignation, Kantilal Bhuria who has been made the Madhya Pradesh pcc president, M S Gill, whose exit has been on the cards for sometime, B K Handique from Assam.
The name of Krishna Tirath is also being mentioned as a likely drop, but since she is a dalit and a woman, there is a possibility that she may finally not be dropped as the prime minister may find it difficult to replace her, though there are a large number of complaints against her style of functioning.
With assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the top priority on Rahul Gandhi's mind, the kurmi leader Beni Prasad Verma may be elevated to cabinet rank and there may be other inductions from UP like Raj Babar, Ratna Singh and a few others are also under consideration.
From the Trinamool Congress, Dinesh Trivedi is likely to be elevated to cabinet and may get railways in place of Mamta Banerjee. Sudeep Bandopadhya is also likely to be inducted as MOS in place of Dinesh Trivedi.
Srikant Jena from Orissa is also likely to be elevated to cabinet rank, say sources since his promotion was long overdue.
Amongst other elevations, Gurudas Kamat is likely to be elevated to MOS independent charge along with E Ahmed, who is also being promoted.
Amongst those whose portfolios are likely to be changed are Jairam Ramesh, who may exit from environment, as the prime minister is keen to shift him. Veerapa Moily may exit from law and justice after the huge number of goof ups in the ministry. Salman Khurshid may get a better portfolio than water resources, while Kapil Sibal is likely to retain both Human Resource Development and telecom according to current indications.
The other probables being mentioned to find a place in the council of ministers are Charan Das Mahant from Chattisgarh, Pawan Ghatowar from Assam, Ravneet Bitto from Punjab (he is the grandson of Beant Singh and a nominee of Rahul Gandhi). Others who are still under consideration are Manish Tewari and Jayanti Natrajan, both of whom are party spokespersons in the AICC.
But, as it's well-known, cabinet reshuffle by the Congress party has always been unpredictable and as secretive as making of the Union budget.
