Cabinet expansion: PM Modi's new team set to have highest & historic OBC representation

After the Union Cabinet expansion, PM Modi's team will have 27 OBCs which is the highest representation of this community since Independence, Republic TV learnt. As per sources, this is more than the proportion of the OBC population of the country. Moreover, 5 Ministers from the OBC quota will be inducted into the Union Cabinet. Overall, sources indicated that the new Council of Ministers will give more representation in terms of caste, religion, region and experience than several other governments in the past.

A total of 43 Ministers in the PM Modi-led Council of Ministers will be sworn in at 6 pm on Wednesday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, sources told Republic TV. Already, Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan, Santosh Gangwar, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ramesh Nishank Pokhriyal, Sanjay Dhotre, Raosaheb Danve, Sadanand Gowda, Ashwini Choubey and Debasree Chaudhuri have been dropped. Reportedly, Union Ministers Anurag Thakur, G Kishan Reddy, Harsh Vardhan, Kiren Rijuju and Parshottam Rupala might be promoted to Cabinet rank. 

Overall caste & gender representation:

• 22 women out of which two will be in the Cabinet
• 27 OBC members out of which 5 will be in the Cabinet
• 12 SC members out of which two will be in the Cabinet
• 8 ST members out of which three will be in the Cabinet

Here are the Ministers likely to be sworn in:

1. Sarbananda Sonowal (BJP)- Former Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs (2014-2016), ex-Assam CM and MLA
2. Narayan Rane (BJP)- Former Maharashtra CM and Rajya Sabha MP 
3. Vinod Sonkar (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Kaushambi
4. Heena Gavit (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Nandurbar
5. Pritam Munde (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Beed
6. Anupriya Patel [Apna Dal(S)]- Lok Sabha MP from Mirzapur
7. Nisith Pramanik (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Cooch Behar
8. Ajay Bhatt (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar
9. Shobha Karandlaje (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Udupi Chikmagalur
10. Shantanu Thakur (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Bangaon 
11. Pashupati Kumar Paras (LJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Hajipur
12. Sunita Duggal (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Sirsa
13. RCP Singh [JD(U)]- Rajya Sabha MP
14. Ashwini Vaishnav (BJP)- Rajya Sabha MP
15. Meenakshi Lekhi (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from New Delhi
16. Bhagwat Karad (BJP)- Rajya Sabha MP
17. Rajeev Chandrasekhar (BJP)- Rajya Sabha MP
18. Jyotiraditya Scindia (BJP)- Rajya Sabha MP
19. Kaushal Kishore (BJP)- Lok Sabha MP from Mohanlalganj