Ahead of state polls, Modi plans reshuffle in Cabinet, to review performance
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting on Wednesday to review the progress made on important Cabinet decisions taken by his government.
The meeting will be attended by his council of ministers, including all ministers of state. This will be the first major review exercise in 18 months since Prime Minister Modi assumed office.
He will examine how ministries are implementing over 20 key decisions taken with regard to agriculture and rural development projects based on a presentation made by a group of ministers.
Speculation is also rife that three ministries — defence, human resources development and railways — could be headed by new ministers. Manohar Parrikar currently holds the defence portfolio and Smriti Irani HRD while Suresh Prabhu is the railway minister.
With the crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled in early 2017, one of the Cabinet ministers from the state could be given a key election assignment by early next year or after the expansion.
Though the BJP had won 71 of the total 80 parliamentary constituencies in UP during last year’s general elections, political analysts are claiming that the main electoral battle will be between the SP and the BSP in 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself represents UP’s Varanasi parliamentary constituency.
