Cabinet reshuffle likely this week

The Prime Minister has already had meetings with President Pratibha Patil and Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi on the subject. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is shortly going to make changes to its council of ministers and the political atmosphere in New Delhi is heating up with a lot of conjecture. The Prime Minister has already had meetings with President Pratibha Patil and Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi on the subject. A formal announcement could come on January 19. If for some reason the same does not take place on January 19, it is expected by the end of this week. Changes in the Union Cabinet are likely to be restricted to filling up of three berths besides minor tinkering with four-five ministries. Two of the vacancies were caused by the controversial exits of A. Raja and Shashi Tharoor while the third one was left vacant after Prithviraj Chavan was named the Maharashtra Chief Minister. Kapil Sibal may be given the full charge of the Telecom Ministry and Law Minister Veerappa Moily could be named the new HRD Minister. The Congress heavyweights - Pranab Mukherjee, A.K. Antony, P. Chidambaram and S.M. Krishna, are likely to retain their respective posts. DMK and Trinamool Congress may get a berth each, according to reports. Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi met the Prime Minister today amid speculation that a reshuffle of the Union Cabinet is on the cards later this week. Gandhi met Dr. Singh at his residence. She was accompanied by her political secretary Ahmed Patel. The meeting came a day after the Prime Minister met the President. Source: http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Cabinet-reshuffle-likely-this-week-reports/5055259979