A reshuffle and possible expansion of the Cabinet is likely on Monday, June 4, just before the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, goes for knee surgery.
Vajpayee is going to Manali on vacation this week. He is also scheduled to visit Gujarat for a day or two in early June. And since President KR Narayanan has no prior programmes, the reshuffle could be effected on June 4.
The Prime Minister will go for a check up at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi before leaving for Mumbai.
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Originally, June 5 had also been considered for the reshuffle. However, Milad-un-Nabi falls on the date. While technically there is no difficulty in holding a reshuffle on a public holiday, the convention is that important public functions are not held on holidays unless there is an emergency.
The PM has two tasks as far as the reshuffle is concerned. He has to lessen the load of ministers with double portfolios like Jaswant Singh, who holds both external affairs and defence, and Nitish Kumar, who holds both agriculture and railways.
While Nitish Kumar has made it known that he would like to keep railways, there is a huge unfulfilled agenda in the defence ministry, which Jaswant Singh is understood to be keen to implement.
This reshuffle is also about the UP elections. It is imperative to have leaders like Ajit Singh in place with ministerships if the BJP wants to prevent a thorough rout in the Assembly elections.
This reshuffle -- possibly the last before the UP elections -- will reflect the redeployment of manpower accordingly. A political decision that the PM has to take by June 5 is also on the vacant Rajya Sabha seat from UP. Former Union minister Rajnath Singh quit the Upper House after he was elected UP Chief Minister.
He had completed only half his term. The seat is one which is hotly contested, but is likely to go in favour of UP BJP president Kalraj Mishra.