Modi ministry reshuffle: Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya resigns

Delhi: Bandaru Dattatreya, Minister of State for Labour and Employment (independent charge) resigned from his post on Friday.

He represents the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency, Andhra Pradesh and was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government too.

The development comes ahead of the much-awaited reshuffle in the Union Council of Ministers that is expected to take place on Sunday.

Yesterday, Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy had put in his papers, hours after BJP chief Amit Shah had held a meeting with some senior ministers at his residence.

Shah had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day.

Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey had also put in their papers yesterday, as per media reports.  

After assuming office in May 2014, the PM has expanded his council of ministers twice - first on November 9 in 2014 and then on July 05 in 2016. 

"A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan at around 10 am on Sunday," a top government official was quoted as saying by PTI.

Two ministers, Uma Bharti and Kalraj Mishra, have also reportedly offered to resign. 

Arun Jaitley, who currently holds the charge of two portfolios - Finance and Defence, may retain only one.

"At least not for very long," he had said yesterday in response to questions by the media on how long he would continue as Defence Minister.

A number of senior ministers are also holding dual portfolios.

Besides Jaitley, Harsh Vardhan, Smriti Irani and Narendra Singh Tomar are handling additional charges.

It is being speculated that Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who had taken moral responsibility for a string of train accidents and indicated his willingness to resign, may be moved to another ministry.

Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) is likely to join the BJP-led NDA government.

There are also talks of a greater representation from existing allies like the TDP and the Shiv Sena.

The current strength of the council of ministers, including the PM, is 73 and the maximum number of ministers cannot go beyond 81.

According to a constitutional amendment, the limit cannot exceed beyond 15 percent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha which is 545.

(With Agency inputs)