PM Modi to chair meeting of Council of Ministers on Wednesday amid Cabinet reshuffle buzz

After a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister's residence on Tuesday, sources have informed that a Cabinet meeting is set to be held on Wednesday at 11 AM in the run-up to the Monsoon session of the Parliament. After the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be chairing a meeting of the Council of Ministers at 5 PM later in the day. The key meeting comes amid the buzz of a possible Cabinet reshuffle and is also likely to deliberate upon the COVID-19 situation across the country and the functioning of some ministries. 

The meeting will be held virtually in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Union Council of Ministers is led by the Prime Minister and includes the Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State (MoS). Usually, the Council of Ministers huddles every 2-3 months to discuss concurrent issues. However, the meeting tomorrow will be held a little over a month since the last one in mid-May and is expected to be in line with the monsoon session of the Parliament. It also happens amid intense speculation around reshuffle of the Cabinet.

Cabinet reshuffle on cards?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been holding marathon meetings with his ministers to review the performances of key ministries. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief JP Nadda have been part of these key meetings held at the Prime Minister's 7 Lok Kalyan Marg residence. The Cabinet expansion is likely to take place before the Monsoon session of the Parliament next month, sources have told Republic. 

Incidentally, after two years of the NDA government's first term, PM Narendra Modi had reshuffled his Cabinet. As per sources, the Cabinet rejig this time is said to be based on the performance of the Union Ministers and towards equitable distribution of portfolios with some ministers in charge of as many as 3 ministries. 

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Friday that the Monsoon Session of Parliament will definitely take place this year and preparations have been made for the same, including the vaccination of Parliament members. Birla informed that a committee of cabinet ministers is deciding the functioning period of the Monsoon Session and that the House should function without any interruption. “Placards and sloganeering needs to be minimised. The House is for discussion, debate and argument and we're constitutionally making efforts to make it more powerful,” he said.

PM Modi chairs high-level meeting

Returning from his three-day visit to forward posts in Leh and Ladakh, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has arrived at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to brief him on matters of national security, sources said. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and NSA Ajit Doval have also arrived at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg for the meeting chaired by PM Modi, which is set to be attended by other top ministers as well. Apart from taking stock of the situation at the borders, sources say that the Prime Minister will also be discussing his outreach programme with mainstream Jammu & Kashmir politicians last week.