Cabinet expansion amid Sena threat

BJP approves RS seat for Parrikar

November 09, 2014 01:46 am | Updated November 16, 2021 04:46 pm IST - New Delhi:

Supporters congratulate BJP's national vice- president and Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya in Hyderabad on Saturday as he is all set to join Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Sunday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

Supporters congratulate BJP's national vice- president and Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya in Hyderabad on Saturday as he is all set to join Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Sunday. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

The changes in the Union Council of Ministers on Sunday could be extensive, with at least a dozen new faces to be sworn in, although the BJP’s standoff with the Shiv Sena intensified late on Saturday.

Speculation continued on dropping of some Ministers or promotions from Minister of State rank to Cabinet, but a senior BJP functionary told The Hindu that “chances of such changes are marginal.”

Last-minute hurdles cropped up in the Shiv Sena’s representative’s induction after Union Minister Anant Geete’s scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not materialise.

Several probables have received phone calls for the oath-taking ceremony to be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan from 1.30 p.m. on Sunday. Many Ministers holding multiple portfolios may shed load, and if that happens, that would bring down the curtain on Mr. Modi’s experiment of keeping the council small by clustering related Ministries under a single Minister. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would lose the Defence portfolio to Manohar Parikkar, who resigned as Goa Chief Minister. Mr. Modi’s Council of Ministers has 44 members; in 2013, the then Manmohan Singh Cabinet had 77.

Also read:>All about Modi's cabinet expansion

On a day of fast-moving events, the BJP Parliamentary Board, in an early morning meeting, approved the nomination of Mr. Parrikar for a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Parrikar will file his nomination papers in Lucknow on Sunday. Soon after the Board meeting, Mr. Parrikar resigned as Chief Minister.

BJP vice-president Muktar Abbas Naqvi and general secretary J.P. Nadda are also in the reckoning.

Vijay Sampla, a first-time BJP MP from Hoshairpur in Punjab, Hansraj Ahir from Maharashtra, Ajay Tamta from Uttarakhand, Sudha Yadav from Haryana and Jayant Sinha, son of former Minister Yashwant Sinha, are almost certain to get a berth.

The TDP has named Y.S. Chowdary for induction into the Cabinet.

 

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