PM expected to give a new look to his team in tomorrow's reshuffle

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Cabinet is going to be revamped tomorrow, ahead of the Assembly elections in about half-a-dozen states in the next one year and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Some key portfolios like Defence and Information & Broadcasting, which are being held as additional charges, were expected to get full time ministers in the Cabinet rejig.

Besides, there are several ministries, most important among them is Railways, in regard to which Mr Modi is believed to be unsatisfied with the performance of the incumbent ministers. 'The Prime Minister wants to have a new reinvigorated team to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly battles by weeding out the non-performers,' sources said.

The Prime Minister has also to give representation to the states going to polls, and also factor in various other dynamics as part of the BJP's social engineering, they said. Ahead of the Cabinet rejig, the Prime Minister has been presented a detailed report card of every Minister, according to sources. Several ministers, including Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Bandaru Dattatreya, Mahendra Pandey, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Sanjeev Balyan, had already resigned to enable the Prime Minister to recast his team, which would probably be the last major exercise before the next Lok sabha elections.

There were also reports of Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti, having offered to resign, but she refused to either deny or confirm the news, tweeting that only party chief Amit shah or any other person authorised by him had the right to say anything on the matter. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, whose Department has been shaken by a series of recent accidents might be given some other portfolio. He had put in his papers in the wake of the Utkal Ganga Express derailment, but the Prime Minister had asked him to wait. (UNI)