Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday met President Pratibha Patil amid speculation of a Cabinet reshuffle later this week. The meeting lasted 45 minutes.
Though the government and the Congress continue to maintain silence on the date for this exercise, they are not ruling out a reshuffle. Instead, they said both, a Cabinet reshuffle and AICC reconstitution, would take place this month.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said the two leaders discussed the current economic situation and various other issues of national and international importance. The issues included price rise, internal security and the Budget Session, the spokesperson said.
Dr Singh had, during an interaction with editors some time ago, given clear indications of a Cabinet reshuffle. A. Raja of the DMK quit later on the 2G spectrum allocation controversy while Mr Prithviraj Chavan resigned after becoming Maharashtra chief minister. Mr Shashi Tharoor had quit before them.
There are currently 32 ministers of Cabinet rank, including the PM. There are six ministers of state (independent charge) and 37 ministers of state. This puts the total strength of the Council of Ministers at 75.
Sources said the PM could induct five to six new faces into the Cabinet if he does not drop current ministers. But a number of ministers could go if he decides to drop them on the basis of performance. The much awaited reshuffle is likely to take place later this week. An indication of this came after the meeting between the PM and the President. Though official sources described it as a routine meeting, indications were available that a re-jig of the UPA ministry was possible later this week.
Dr Singh is expected to take care of party MPs from election-going Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry in this exercise. Besides, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are other key states where the Congress has to give adequate representation to party MPs in this exercise. It will be interesting to see how Andhra Pradesh gets representation against the backdrop of the demand of a separate state of Telangana.
From the allies, the Trinamul Congress wants to increase its representation in the Cabinet while the NCP is said to be keen on getting one more Cabinet-rank ministry. The PM would have to compensate the DMK with a key ministry if the telecom portfolio remains with the Congress.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi held detailed deliberations with Dr Singh more than twice in the last week, apparently to plan out the exercise, which would be the first after the UPA-II came to power in May 2009.