The long-awaited expansion of the Union council of ministers is expected to take place on Sunday, July 4.
For the past few days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been meeting Union ministers, apparently to take stock of the work done by the government in the last two years and to discuss various issues.
BJP president JP Nadda was present in most of the meetings held at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, the official residence of the prime minister, lending credence to the belief that this was being done with an eye on reshuffling the Union council.
Apart from ministers, Modi also met presidents of various wings of the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as party general secretaries.
There are many BJP leaders who need to be accommodated in the government. Leading the pack are former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who crossed over to the BJP, former Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Odisha MP Baijayant Panda.
It is also expected that Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan may make way for another doctor, Dr Devi Shetty, founder of Narayana Health.
The law allows PM Modi to have 79 members in the council of ministers and currently he has 53, which leaves him enough room to bring in new talent.
