Cabinet reshuffle to be held at 10 am on Sunday before Modi leaves for BRICS summit, says govt official

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a reshuffle of his council of ministers at 10 am on Sunday, a top government official said. [caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with senior cabinet ministers. AFP[/caption] It will be the third such exercise since he took over in May 2014. The reshuffle is expected to take place before Modi leaves for China on Sunday afternoon. “A process has been set in motion for the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan around 10 am on Sunday,” the official said. Four junior ministers — Rajiv Pratap Rudy , Sanjiv Kumar Balyan, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahendra Nath Pandey — have resigned ahead of the rejig. Two cabinet ministers have also offered to resign, said BJP sources. A cabinet reshuffle has been on the cards since Manohar Parrikar resigned as defence minister to become the chief minister of Goa. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been holding additional charge of the defence ministry since then. Talks of a reshuffle gained traction after Jaitley hinted on Thursday that he would not continue to hold the defence portfolio for long. “At least not for very long,” Jaitley said in response to questions on how long he would continue as the defence minister. Jaitley isn’t the only minister holding additional charges, three other Union ministers are also handling multiple charges in different ministries. Textiles Minister Smriti Irani is currently holding additional charge of the information and broadcasting ministry, while Rural Development Minister Narendra Tomar has the additional charge of urban development ministry. After M Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the vice-president, he also resigned from his ministerial responsibilities of Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information and Broadcasting to take up the high office. Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan is holding additional charge of the environment ministry following the death of Anil Madhav Dave in May. Some election-bound states, including Congress-ruled Karnataka, could get greater representation in the Council of Ministers. Karnataka will also have assembly poll next year. The last Cabinet reshuffle took place in July last year, in which Modi inducted 19 new faces and elevated Minister of State for Environment Prakash Javadekar to Cabinet rank. Five junior ministers were also dropped. With inputs from IANS.