The Capital is abuzz with reports of a Union Council of Minsters reshuffle in the coming weeks. Election results in Maharashtra State polls and forthcoming Assembly election in Bihar are the pivots around which the exercise is to be balanced.
Post Maharashtra elections, the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) are two allies that the ruling BJP has to factor in the Union Cabinet. Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) has seven Lok Sabha MPs and just one Minister (Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, Minister of State with Independent Charge) in the Cabinet. NCP (Ajit Pawar Faction) with one Lok Sabha MP has no representation in the Council of Ministers.
Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel from NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) is largely the favourite to be elevated to the Cabinet. The negotiations are believed to be on between the BJP and NCP. It is believed that BJP was willing to offer Minister of State with independent charge to Patel but that was not acceptable to NCP. As Patel was Cabinet Minister during the second term of UPA Government, the offer of Minister of State with Independent Charge was considered a demotion by the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction). There is a possibility of Patel being included not as MoS but with full Cabinet rank.
Fresh faces
Changes have to be made in the contingent from Bihar owing to the Assembly elections next year. Chirag Paswan’s LJP with 5 MPs, JDS with 2 MPs and Hindustan Awam Morcha (Secular) with 1 one MP have got one Cabinet Minister each. The total number of Ministers from Bihar (4 from BJP, two from JD-U and one each from LJP-Ram Vilas, and HAM-S) is eight. Owing to the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, the caste equations need to be balanced and inclusion of some fresh faces from the State is expected.
In order to accommodate Patel, the government will need to drop one Minister from the Council of Ministers. The reason is 91st amendment in the Constitution which restricts the total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers to 15 per cent of the total number of members of the House of the People (Lok Sabha). Presently, Lok Sabha has 543 members (one vacant), so effective strength of the Council of Ministers would be 81.
The present Council of Ministers has 81 members (PM, 30 Cabinet, 5 Ministers of State with Independent charge and 36 Minister of States). Since, 91st amendment does not specify the number for each category, even dropping a Minister of State could make a place for a new member.