Cabinet rejig: 15 new members to be inducted

New Delhi, Nov 8: The first revamp of the Union Council of Ministers is likely to see 15 inductions, including Manohar Parrikar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of BJP at the cabinet level besides a reshuffle of portfolios and also elevation of some Ministers of State. TDP and Shiv Sena also named Y S Chowdhary and Anil Desai, respectively, for induction in the Council of Ministers. Both Rajya Sabha members could to be made Ministers of State. BJP's Bandaru Dattatreya will be representing Telanagana in the central cabinet. The swearing-in of the new ministers is scheduled for 1 pm on Sunday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Earlier on that day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be hosting a breakfast for the newcomers. The 59-year-old Parrikar is tipped to be the new Defence Minister. The Defence portfolio is currently held as additional charge by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The 57-year-old Naqvi returns to the Union Cabinet 15 years after his stint as MoS Information and Broadcasting in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Among the new inductions are Vijay Sampla, a dalit and a first time Lok Sabha member of BJP from Hoshiarpur in Punjab and former RJD leader Ram Kripal Yadav from Patna. The other names may include J P Nadda, BJP general secretary, Ajay Tamta from Uttarakhand, Jayant Sinha, son of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha from Jharkhand, Jat leader from Haryana Birender Singh, Bhumiar leader from Bihar Giriraj Singh, Col Sonaram Chaudhary and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, both of Rajasthan, Hansraj Ahir from Maharashtra and Ramesh Bais from Chhattisgarh. There are runours that a couple of ministers could be dropped.