Ministerial hopefuls are waiting anxiously for May-end amid talk that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will go in for a major reshuffle of his council of ministers at that time.
According to well-placed sources, Dr Singh could go in for this exercise once the results of the five state Assembly elections are announced on May 13. The terms of the
current Legislative Assemblies of these states expire in May and June. This means a new Assembly in TN will have to be constituted before May 16, Kerala before May 23, Puducherry and Assam before May 28 and West Bengal before June 11.
If Congress insiders are to be believed, the PM could undertake the long-awaited exercise either before the second anniversary of UPA-II or in the last week of May.