Cabinet expansion: Speculation mounts over portfolios

NEW DELHI: Portfolios of the new Union Ministers sworn in earlier today were not announced till late tonight.

Induction of the 21 new faces is widely expected to result in the reshuffle of several portfolios in the nearly six-month-old BJP-led government but there was no official word on them.

Delay in the announcement of the portfolios led to speculation in the media about some of the portfolios including the widely expected Defence Ministry for Manohar Parrikar.

Other names figuring in the speculation were Suresh Prabhu (Railways), J P Nadda (Health), Birender Singh (Rural Development) and Sadanand Gowda being shifted from Railways to Law.

Other portfolios doing the rounds were Jayant Sinha (MoS Finance) and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (MoS Information and Broadcasting). However, there was no authentic confirmation of this.