5 ministers resign ahead of Modi cabinet reshuffle

Five Union ministers, including Uma Bharti and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, have resigned from their posts ahead of the cabinet shuffle which is likely to take place on Saturday. The others are Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Balyan and Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh.

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Rajiv Pratap Modi, who is an MP from Saran in Bihar, is likely to be sent to his home state as deputy chief minister while the current Bihar deputy minister, Sushil Modi, may join the Modi cabinet, sources told India Today.

Reports say that President Ram Nath Kovind will be visiting Andhra Pradesh on Friday and would return only on Saturday. This implies that the cabinet reshuffle may take place on Saturday evening.

PM Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah have reportedly done all the preliminary work for NDA's third cabinet reshuffle. Apart from meeting the ministers to hold discussions about their performance, the two leaders also met RSS, party MPs and chief ministers to evaluate who was to be dropped.

The first cabinet reshuffle took place on November 9, 2014, followed by the second one on July 5, 2016. The five reasons stated for cabinet reshuffle are -- vacancy in key ministries, mid-term appraisal of the performance of the ministers, forthcoming Assembly elections, gubernatorial assignments and realignment of NDA.

Cabinet reshuffle to reward performers

Railways minister Suresh Prabhu, who has been under the spotlight following several derailments, might be reassigned as Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister, which he reportedly performed well under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar might be asked to take charge of Ministry of Urban Development, which is currently handled by Narendra Singh Tomar. Tomar, the minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, was given the additional responsibility after Venkaiah Naidu became the Vice-President. 

The portfolios which lack full-time ministers include defence, environment, urban development and I&B. Besides filling some crucial vacancies, this reshuffling exercise, the last one before the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019, could also aim to reward the performers and punish the layabouts.