Another Cabinet reshuffle is imminent, possibly next month or early October. Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee is a likely entrant. Former Maharashtra Governor PC Alexander is also in talks with the NDA to work out how he can lend his support to the anti-Sonia Gandhi campaign of the government.
The charge of some ministers of state is reportedly going to be changed to strengthen government functioning.New Ministers of state will also be sworn in.
The Prime Minister gave a clear hint in his speech at the BJP National Council that he wanted more ministers to work for the party when he praised those who had given up ministerships to join the party.
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The reshuffle has become necessary because Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Uma Bharati is said to have been told to go to Madhya Pradesh to take charge of the party. Minister of state in the Commerce Ministry, Raman Singh, has already resigned.
Minister of state for personnel and small scale industry, Vasundhara Raje is likely to move to Rajasthan to take over the reins of the party, with Ananth Kumar moving to Karnataka.
There is no cabinet level representation of West Bengal which could give rise to regionalism that the government wants to avoid at all cost. Besides this, the government has to decide how to leverage a man who could be useful in countering Sonia Gandhi - PC Alexander.
Ministers, especially junior ministers, are already being sounded about the job they think they should be given. Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani has some inputs to make in this exercise. Bureaucrats say the extent to which these inputs will be utilised and deployed will indicate the degree of shift in power in the government.