PM Modi, Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley held consultation on cabinet reshuffle

New Delhi: With Uttar Pradesh elections on the cards, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started the discussions with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah and associate ministers regarding the reshuffling of Cabinet.

Modi met Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and few other leaders on Wednesday evening for the discussion over Cabinet expansion.

BJP sources say that Amit Shah wants some experienced leaders to take the charge in few crucial states as they lack such leaders, who can handle the party organization.

In this expansion of Cabinet, Modi, however, is prominently focussing on Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, where the campaigning work will get accelerated in the next 4-5 months.

Punjab Social Welfare Minister Vijay Sampla, who is also the party president of the state, will be maintained state president along with the ministry post.

Former Cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu is likely to be made minister from Punjab.

Forests, Environment and climate change Minister Prakash Javadekar is expected to be made party’s general secretary.

As Uttarakhand elections are also on the doors, two MP’s could be made ministers from Kumaon and Garhwal areas.

Removal of few ministers is expected but Modi will not disturb any name from BJP’s front line team which includes Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Manohar Parrikar.

Ministers from Bihar could be lessened as there are no any elections until 2019.

The burden from those ministers, who were having more than two ministries, is expected to be reduced. Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Piyush Goyal and Mahesh Sharma have two or three ministries each.

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