Cabinet reshuffle on cards as 12 ministers hold multiple portfolios, key posts may get new faces

New Delhi: With Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri set to vacate the petroleum ministry next month, another key ministry in the BJP-led NDA government would be up for grabs, months after the Union minister Pralhad Joshi was given additional charge of the crucial education ministry which fell vacant after Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.

This seems to be a clear indication of an impending cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle. The Union Cabinet could have 81 ministers at most. Currently, there are 29 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state with independent charge and 34 ministers of state -- this comes to total of 68, which is 84% of the full capacity.

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Union Cabinets usually have around 75 ministers.

In the BJP's list of Rajya Sabha candidates announced on Monday, Puri and MoS BL Verma have not been renominated.

With this, four Union Ministers from the 2024 cabinet of Modi government have been denied Rajya Sabha seats so far.

While Puri was serving his second term, Verma, Kurien and Bittu were in their first terms in the Upper House. And if Puri resigns, then there will be no Sikh representative in the Union cabinet, which already doesn't have a Muslim or Christian face. Union minister Kiren Rijiju, a Buddhist, represents the minorities.

With these changes, already around 40% of the Cabinet rank ministers (around 12), are holding charge of more than one ministry, including two having charge of three ministries.

Ministers holding charge of more than one ministry are Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Shivraj Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Manohar Lal, Pralhad Joshi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and G Kishan Reddy.

Modi 3.0 is reaching its half term and a cabinet reshuffle seems to be on the cards as most of the ministers from Modi 2.0 have been retained.