New Delhi, Oct 24: The long-awaited reshuffle of union cabinet is likely to take place on Octber 28, according to reliable sources.
The speculation over cabinet gained momentum after Congress president Sonia Gandhi and prime Minister Manmohan Singh met the President separately recently.
It should be recalled that the cabinet expansion is due for quite some time now. The vacancy arose mainly on account of the resignation of Trinamool Congress ministers. All six ministers of TMC had resigned after irreconcilable differences cropped up between Mamata Banerjee and Manmohan Singh led UPA govt. Two ministers of DMK, A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran, had also resigned owing to their name surfacing in 2G scam. These berths are also to be filled although DMK chief M Karunanidhi had shown no interest in reclaiming these berths.
According to sources, 5 serving ministers could be dropped from the council of ministers while 5 new faces could be inducted in the cabinet.
Rahul Gandhi's close associates Manicka Tagore and Meenakshi Natarajan are likely to be inducted in the cabinet. The reshuffle could also see promotion of Sachin pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and jiten Prasad to cabinet rank.
The Congress could also induct ministers from west Bengal Congress unit after the exit of TMC as there is no representation of West Bengal in present council of ministers. Deepa Dashmunshi, Adhir Chaudhary and West Bengal PCC chief Pradeep Bhattacharjee are leading hopefuls from West Bengal. What can't be overlooked is the fact that they are all known detractors of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.
Similarly, there can be an addition from Maharashtra unit of the party as well. After the demise of Vilasrao Deshmukh , one berth is lying vacant from Maharashtra quota.
Nobody is in a position to point out who all are going to be dropped from the council of ministers but some ministers who courted controversies recently may face the axe and the list includes the names of Subodh Kant sahai, Sriprakash Jaiswal and Salman Khurshid.
