Work-In-Progress: Selecting Narendra Modi's Cabinet

New Delhi: Prime minister to be Narendra Modi and BJP president Rajnath Singh are holding separate meetings in Delhi to finalise the names of people to join Mr Modi's cabinet. (10 Latest Developments)

Three days after he won a thumping victory in the general election, there was little clarity about who Mr Modi would include in his team, even in key portfolios like Defence, Home and External Affairs. (Track LIVE updates)

Sources say Arun Jaitley, a member of Mr Modi's core team, could land Finance or External Affairs. Mr Jaitley lost the Lok Sabha election from Amritsar in Punjab, a rare missed mark for his party, which won 336 of the 543 seats In the Lok Sabha with its allies. (Full coverage of Elections 2014)

Mr Jaitley, a former commerce minister, is regarded as a capable administrator, and is one of the few people in the party who has experience but is not too old at 61.

Rajnath Singh, who reportedly would like to be projected as Mr Modi's number 2 in government, could head the Home Ministry, the sources said.

Former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie could get a top post, said sources, along with Nitin Gadkari, the former BJP president who has just won his first national election from Nagpur and is a key liaison between the party and its powerful ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS

Sushma Swaraj, who led the opposition in the lower house of parliament for the past five years but is not seen as close to Mr Modi, wants one of the four big ministries - Defence, Home, External or Finance. Her assignment has yet to be finalised.

She met both Rajnath Singh and Mr Modi today. Mr Modi also has to finalise  a role for veteran BJP leader LK Advani, whom he had met yesterday. (Read More...)

Mr Modi was considering merging some ministries to streamline government, sources said.

The BJP was last in power 10 years ago, and some of the ministers who served then are now past their sell by date, leaving Mr Modi a relatively small pool of experience at his disposal. On the plus side, the party's runaway success in the election has brought a lot of new faces into the decision-making lower house of parliament. (Forum: What I Want Modi To Do First)