 "Ramesh Pokhriyal")
Ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion at 6 pm, several Union Ministers, including Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, resigned from their posts on Wednesday.
Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar have also submitted their resignations.
Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre have also resigned from Union Council of Ministers.
As many as 43 new members are all set to be sworn in this evening in Prime Minister Modi's new cabinet which will be one of the most inclusive with record representation of SC, ST members.
It is learnt from reliable sources that post-expansion, there will be 12 members from the SC community, including two in the cabinet; eight members will be from Scheduled tribes in the council of ministers out of which three will be in the cabinet.
After cabinet expansion, the Modi government is expected to have 27 OBC leaders out of which five will be in the cabinet.
Pokhriyal, who tested positive for COVID-19 on April 21, was admitted to AIIMS in June again following post Covid complications. He has resigned from his post citing health reasons.
The former Uttarakhand chief minister took charge as the HRD Minister in May 2019. Dhotre, who represents Akola constituency of Maharashtra also took charge as MoS for Education, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, in May 2019.
Sources further informed that there will be a substantial increase in the number of professionals in the cabinet.
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