Amid Cabinet Reshuffle Buzz, Nadda Holds Series Of Meetings With Several Union Ministers

New Delhi: Amid a strong buzz about an organisational and ministerial reshuffle, Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia and Prahlad Singh Patel on Wednesday met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda. The BJP headquarters in the national capital saw a flurry of activities for the second consecutive day as the newly-appointed Punjab unit chief of the BJP Sunil Jakhar also visited the party office and met Nadda while Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya went to his residence to meet him. The BJP, however, made no official comment on the meetings between Union ministers and JP Nadda.

Several Union ministers, including Nirmala Sitharaman, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Bhupender Yadav, SPS Baghel, and Kiren Rijiju met Nadda on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the BJP also named Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, Sunil Jakhar, and Babulal Marandi as its president in Telangana, Punjab, and Jharkhand respectively. The party is now likely to make similar changes in a few more states, including Karnataka and poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

With the BJP chief holding a series of meetings and the party carrying out changes at the state leadership level, the buzz of a ministerial reshuffle in the Narendra Modi-led government has grown stronger ahead of the ensuing assembly polls in states like Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

What has added to the reshuffle buzz is that the period before Parliament's Monsoon Session -- scheduled to begin from July 20 -- could be the last window for such an exercise.

PM Modi meets his Council of Ministers

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also met his Council of Ministers at the newly built convention centre at Pragati Maidan, which will also host the G20 summit in September.

The sources said that in the meeting, a presentation was also made on the vision for India's growth journey in a host of areas, ranging from infrastructure to budget size, till 2047 when it celebrates the centenary of its independence. This will put India among the leading countries in the world, they said.

With the ruling BJP's leadership putting in place its strategy to retain power at the Centre in the 2024 General elections, PM Modi reportedly spoke at length about India's development journey in various sectors and his government's pro-poor measures since 2014. Chairing the meeting, he asked his ministerial colleagues to make a determined effort to connect with the electorate across the country in the period till the polls.

The sources said the prime minister noted the prevailing global challenges and lauded the country's growth and welfare for the poor.

"A fruitful meeting with the Council of Ministers, where we exchanged views on diverse policy related issues," Prime Minister Modi tweeted after the key meet.

A fruitful meeting with the Council of Ministers, where we exchanged views on diverse policy related issues. pic.twitter.com/NgdEN9FNEX — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 3, 2023