NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to reshuffle his council of ministers between January 15 and 25 to prepare the government for the assembly elections in 10 states and the 2024 general elections.Sources said the Prime Minister is likely to induct some Members of Parliament who have been performing well and belong to the poll-bound states. The Prime Minister is expected to undertake the exercise before the commencement of the Budget Session of Parliament.
According to sources, new ministers are likely to be inducted from Telangana and the four north eartern states - Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, where assembly elections are due in 2023. There are reports that some non-performing ministers will face the axe.It is also being said that the ministers dropped from the central cabinets would be entrusted with the major organizational tasks the way Mukhtar Naqbi, Ravi Shankar Prasad and others have recently been entrusted in the party.
The Saffron party, which is said to be following the Hindu calendar and other astro beliefs, will make a reshuffle after January 14 when the kharmas (inauspicious time as per the Hindu calendar) ends.A BJP leader said, “What will be new in it if it happens? Remember, such a reshuffle had taken place in 2021 also in which some ministers were dropped and some new faces were inducted in the cabinet. This kind of exercise is carried out depending upon the need of government at the Centre with the desire of the Prime Minister, who heads the government”.But what is expected this time is the induction of around 4 to 5 MPs, whose performances in the party have been found good and who hold great influence in their respective areas.
“Some of them are said to be from Telangana and Gujarat whose induction in the cabinet cannot be ruled out. They carry a lot of influences in some particular sections of voters”, hinted a senior source. Party sources said that before the cabinet reshuffle, the party is expected to take a final decision on the continuation of JP Nadda as national president.