- BJP may reshuffle Union Council of Ministers with new allies and younger faces before 2029 polls
- Current council has 69 members; Constitution allows 81, leaving 12 vacancies for new inductions
- Ministers with new party roles or ending Rajya Sabha terms likely to be replaced or reassigned
Now that the BJP's new national team is in place, focus has shifted to a reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers, with those who got party roles, plus those who conclude their terms in Parliament, likely to make way for new allies and younger faces, sources told NDTV on Tuesday.
The Council currently has 69 members, including the Prime Minister. Article 75(1A) of the Constitution permits a strength of 81. That leaves 12 berths vacant. The changes will be shaped by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections as well as some assembly polls due before that, sources told NDTV. Political considerations won't be all, though, as the leadership may also want to ease the load on some ministers holding multiple portfolios.
Who Might Make Way: Party Roles, Terms Ending
Three changes have happened recently anyway. Dharmendra Pradhan quit as Education Minister amid a youth protest over paper leaks. Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurien and MoS (Railways) Ravneet Singh Bittu have resigned as their Rajya Sabha terms concluded.
Next could be those with new party roles, it is learnt. These include ministers of state who have taken up organisational assignments. Harsh Malhotra and Pankaj Chaudhary have been made state unit chiefs of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh recently.
More recently, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has been made treasurer of the party in a recast of the central BJP structure under new national chief Nitin Nabin.
Then there are those facing Rajya Sabha term deadlines. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Minister of State for Social Justice BL Verma will conclude their current terms in November.
Some ministers could be dropped on performance grounds too, people in the know told NDTV.
The BJP has not commented on the speculation. The party traditionally follows a system of one person-one role. Several leaders whose names had figured in ministerial speculation were instead given organisational roles, such as Smriti Irani, Vinod Tawde, Satish Poonia, and Tarun Chugh.
Who Could Come In: Age, Allies, Elections At Play
Age may become a factor, too, when deciding who stays, who goes, and who comes in. When Modi 3.0 took office in 2024, over 65 per cent of ministers were in the 51-70 age group and 24 per cent in the 31-50 group. At present, at least 12 cabinet ministers and ministers of state with independent charge are above 70 years of age. Jitan Ram Manjhi, 81, from the ally party HAM from Bihar, is the oldest cabinet minister. K Ram Mohan Naidu, 38, is currently the youngest; he is also from an ally party, the TDP from Andhra Pradesh. Sources told NDTV the number of younger ministers and women is likely to rise.
As for states, inductions are being considered from Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, which are currently ruled by the main Opposition party Congress. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra are also on this list, besides Uttar Pradesh, which goes to polls early next year, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state Gujarat, where elections are due by the end of next year.
Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena now has a strength of 13 MPs, with additions from the Thackerays' Sena. Eknath's son Shrikant Shinde's name is in circulation for a cabinet berth, the sources further told NDTV.
There's also an overlap of two factors, elections and switchovers, in Punjab's case. The Raghav Chadha-led group of seven Rajya Sabha MPs, who moved to the BJP from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), could get representation as elections are also due in AAP-ruled Punjab. From this group, Sandeep Pathak has been given responsibility in the party as a secretary.
Also from Punjab is a likely comeback of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as the SAD-BJP alliance may be restitched. Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the SAD was in the Modi cabinet before she quit in 2020 over the three contentious farm laws, repealed in 2021 after a year-long farmers' protest.
The Trinamool Congress MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, from West Bengal, who moved to the little-known NCPI and backed the NDA, form another group that may be accommodated in the council of ministers.
Read: Supreme Court Notice To 20 Trinamool Rebel MPs, Why Speaker Didn't Get One
There's also talk that the DMK, which has been in the Congress-led INDIA bloc but has lately been incensed at the Grand Old Party's pact with Vijay's TVK in Tamil Nadu, might enter the NDA fold. Similar talk surrounds the NCP in Maharashtra, where a reunification with Sharad Pawar's faction could see the party seek larger representation.
Workload A Factor Too
Fourteen ministers at present hold more than one portfolio; sources told NDTV the reshuffle could redistribute some of this load.
Among them are Amit Shah (holds Home and Cooperation); JP Nadda (Health, Chemicals and Fertilisers); Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture, Rural Development); Manohar Lal (Housing and Urban Affairs, Power); HD Kumaraswamy (Heavy Industries, Steel); Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan' (Panchayati Raj, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry); Pralhad Joshi (Consumer Affairs and Food, New and Renewable Energy, Education); Ashwini Vaishnaw (Railways, I&B, Electronics and IT); Jyotiraditya Scindia (Communications, Development of North Eastern Region); Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Culture, Tourism); Kiren Rijiju (Parliamentary Affairs, Minority Affairs); Mansukh Mandaviya (Labour, Youth Affairs and Sports); and G Kishan Reddy (Coal, Mines).
