The first mega cabinet reshuffle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s second term will be the “youngest-ever”, with a record representation of OBCs, SCs and STs and more women picks. The new cabinet, to be announced at 6pm today, will have a special focus on the representation of ‘soshit, pidit, vanchhit and adivasi’ (underprivileged and tribal communities), sources told CNN-News18.
They added that the council will also witness a record representation of Schedule Caste communities, and that about 24 ministers belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) will be inducted, as well. The government’s plan is to provide representation to even the smallest communities, with focus on each state and their relevant regions. Women’s representation will also be increased in the council, and the average age of the leaders will be lowest in the history of Independent India, the sources said. The sources added that special attention will be given to include who have administrative experience, either in the state or Centre.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with top ministers as well as the BJP chief at his residence at 5pm on Tuesday — amid growing buzz of a cabinet reshuffle later in the week — was cancelled earlier. Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP chief JP Nadda and party national general secretary BL Santhosh were expected to attend the meeting among others.
Some of the probable names are: Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane, Pashupati Paras, Anupriya Patel, Pankaj Chowdhury, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Ramshankar Katheria, Varun Gandhi, RCP Singh, Lallan Singh, Rahul Kaswan, CP Joshi, Sakaldeep Rajbhar, and Ranjan Singh Rajkumar.