New Delhi, July 7: Prime Minister Narendra Modi may expand his cabinet of ministers for the first time since he assumed the charge for a second term, in what is tipped to be a "major reshuffle". A number of leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have arrived in Delhi ahead of the widely-anticipated cabinet expansion. Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sarbananda Sonowal are frontrunners in the list of hopefuls. Modi Cabinet Expansion: Four Ministers Could Be From Bihar, Say Sources.

According to reports, the new cabinet of ministers will be the "youngest-ever" in India's history and women will be given more representation. There is also a buzz about Modi inducting some professionals and those with domain expertise. The Union Cabinet, which can have 81 members, currently has 53 ministers including PM Narendra Modi. This means 28 ministers can be inducted. Thaawarchand Gehlot Appointed as Governor of Karnataka, PS Sreedharan Pillai as Governor of Goa; Check Full List of New Governors Appointed by President.

List of Cabinet Hopefuls:

  • Jyotiraditya Scindia

  • Sarbananda Sonowal

  • Narayan Rane

  • Pashupati Paras

  • Anupriya Patel

  • Pankaj Chowdhury

  • Rita Bahuguna Joshi

  • Ramshankar Katheria

  • Varun Gandhi

  • RCP Singh

  • Lallan Singh

  • Rahul Kaswan

  • CP Joshi

  • Ranjan Singh Rajkumar

  • Bhupender Yadav

  • Anil Baluni

  • Sudhanshu Trivedi

  • Sushil Kumar Modi

  • Ashwini Vaishnav

  • GVL Narasimha Rao

In another pointer to the imminent Cabinet reshuffle, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot was appointed as Karnataka governor, causing yet another ministerial vacancy. A new 'Ministry of Co-operation' has also been created a day before the impending cabinet reshuffle. (With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 07, 2021 09:48 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).