New Delhi: Several new faces will join the team of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. The Union Council of Ministers will be expanded at around 1:30 pm with over 15 being inducted into his team of 45 ministers. This is the first expansion since Modi took oath onMay 16 with his small team.
Sources suggest that former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar could get the heavyweight defence portfolio while DV Sadananda Gowda could be shifted from Railways.
Names of senior leaders Giriraj Singh, Ram Kripal Yadav, Babul Supriyo, Mahesh Sharma, Birendra Singh, Vijay Sampla, Ramesh Bais and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are also doing the rounds.
The Prime Minister has also asked the Telugu Desam Party to nominate one of its members. Sources said that YS Chowdhury is likely to be sworn in from the TDP quota.
It is still unclear whether any Shiv Sena leader will be inducted.
BJP’s Parliamentary Board, a body comprising top party leaders, met in Delhi on Saturday, purportedly to discuss the Cabinet expansion. Modi, who was on his way back from his constituency Varanasi, did not attend the meeting, which was chaired by BJP chief Amit Shah.
Modi has also called new inductees for tea at 7 Race Course Road in the morning after which the oath taking ceremony will take place at the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.