Modi 2.0 Cabinet Expansion : Ministerial Candidates , Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia Others Meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pokhriyal, Harsh Vardhan Resign

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Ahead of the much awaited Union Cabinet expansion on Wednesday evening, the ministerial probables met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence.

Those meeting Modi included BJP’s Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Sunita Duggal, Meenakshi Lekhi, Bharati Pawar, Shantanu Thakur and Kapil Patil, JD(U)’s R C P Singh, LJP’s Pashupati Paras and Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel.

Some ministers of state, including G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Thakur, were also there, and they may be elevated, sources said. BJP president J P Nadda present .

The expansion exercise is scheduled to be held at 6 pm at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Accordingt to media reports , 43 leaders will take oath as Union Ministers in the Union Cabinet expansion.

This will be the first reshuffle in his Council of Ministers by Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.

The prime minister is expected to bring in young faces and give representation to various social groups and regions in the reshuffle.

Meanwhile , Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre resigned from the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, according to sources. Pokhriyal, who tested positive for COVID-19 on April 21, was admitted to AIIMS in June again following post Covid complications. He has resigned from his post citing health reasons.

The former Uttarakhand chief minister took charge as the HRD Minister in May 2019. Dhotre, who represents Akola constituency of Maharashtra also took charge as MoS for Education, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, in May 2019.

Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Rao Saheb Danve Patil also resigned . Health Minister Harshvardhan too has resigned . Others who resigned are – Labour minister Santosh Gangwar and Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda.