Speculation over a potential cabinet reshuffle has intensified following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on June 23. The reshuffle buzz was further fueled when Home Minister Amit Shah called on the President on June 25, as reported by The Indian Media. While there is no official confirmation yet, murmurs in political circles and corridors of power have increasingly centered on the possibility of changes before the monsoon session of Parliament expected around the third week of July. The deliberations suggest the reshuffle will be carried out in tandem with the announcement of a new BJP team under its president Nitin Nabin.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet secretaries of key Union ministries and departments on Tuesday for a brainstorming session, according to reports from Business Standard. The meeting comes after the Prime Minister returned on Monday from a three-day visit to the Indian Ocean archipelago of Seychelles. This will be the Prime Minister's second such interaction - he had previously chaired a meeting of the entire Union Council of Ministers on May 21, hours after returning from his five-nation tour to the United Arab Emirates, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway.
Secretaries will brief the Prime Minister on the performance of their ministries and departments in improving the 'ease of living' of citizens, 'ease of doing business', fostering 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' or self-reliance, and reforms that can be undertaken, as reported by Business Standard. The meeting comes amid buzz over a Cabinet reshuffle, with the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government completing two years of its third term on June 9. The Prime Minister is yet to reshuffle his Council of Ministers during this term, having previously done so in July 2016 and July 2021.
Younger faces are expected to be brought in for prominent organisational roles, with strong possibilities of some federal ministers being sent to take up organisational roles in BJP and party office-bearers being inducted into the Modi ministry, according to The Indian Media. There are also strong possibilities of portfolio changes for some ministers, while the future of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is under a cloud following a spate of controversies relating to matters under his ministry, especially the competitive examination question paper leak and irregularities in the school digital marking system. Sources indicate a growing view among the government's top brass that key ministries need fresh blood.
Political compulsions to balance the cabinet based on regional, state, caste and loyalty factors are also at play, as reported by The Indian Media. More representatives from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab are likely to find a place in the Modi ministry, as fresh Assembly elections are due in these three states next year. The Cabinet Secretariat has been sending missives to all ministries and departments to routinely update details of their Cabinet and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) notes, with the latest office memorandum dated June 17 highlighting 'lags' and 'gaps' in updating by some ministries.
