Rahul Gandhi's meets PM, no word on reshuffle yet

1:30 pm: Meet with Prime Minister ends, no word on outcome Rahul Gandhi’s meet with the Prime Minister has ended and he has left. Still no word on whether it will be today that the cabinet reshuffle is announced. Meanwhile, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who is at the centre of attention today thanks to the possibility of Arvind Kejriwal targetting him while levelling allegations of corruption, also dropped in to meet the President. “I had not met him since he took charge as the president and this was purely a courtesy call. I have known him for a long time so we had discussions on a lot of issues,” he said. Not surprisingly he said little else and beat a hasty retreat when reporters started asking them questions. 12:30 pm : Rahul Gandhi meets PM, is he lobbying or is he to join cabinet? After his meeting with the President, Rahul Gandhi drove straight to the residence of the Prime Minister, Times Now reported. While the Congress leader himself may not have expressed any interest in joining the cabinet or taking up a ministerial portfolio, his high profile visits this morning have aroused speculation on whether he plans to take the plunge and join the cabinet or intends to stay on the sidelines. Or he may have just dropped in for a cup of tea. Hopefully we’ll know shortly. The speculation began when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi met separately with President Pranab Mukherjee separately yesterday. While there has been talk of a cabinet reshuffle for some time now, the rumours only gained further momentum with Congress general secretary meeting with the President today. [caption id=“attachment_493551” align=“alignright” width=“380”] Minister Gandhi? PTI[/caption] The end of ‘pitr paksh’, considered an inauspicious period by Hindus, and the beginning of the navaratra season, set abuzz reports that a change in the government was on the cards, possibly this week. There was no official word on what transpired at the meetings with the President, which fuelled fresh speculation about the changes in the Council of Ministers that could take place before Mukherjee leaves on 20 October for his ancestral home at Miriti in West Bengal for Durga Puja festivities. There has been speculation about reshuffle in the Cabinet for quite some time now, especially after the exit of Trinamool Congress ministers both at the levels of Cabinet and Ministers of State levels. There have been berths vacated by DMK representatives A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran in the last two years after their names cropped in the 2G scam, and DMK President M Karunanidhi has recently made clear that his party will not not like to reclaim their lost berths. Congress sources said that the reshuffle and induction could be largely from the party. There is speculation that some young faces, considered close to Rahul, like Manicka Tagore and Meenakshi Natarajan could be inducted into the council of ministers. Some among the young ministers like Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada may get promoted to Cabinet rank or get independent charge as minister of state. The exercise could see some of the ministers holding charges of two ministries losing one of the portfolios. The ministers who will give up one of their portfolios will be: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal (Telecom), Road and Transport Minister CP Joshi (Railways), Law Minister Salman Khurshid (Minority Affairs) and Corporate Affairs Affairs Minister M Veerappa Moily (Power) and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi (MSME, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences). With six ministers from TMC leaving, two to three Congress leaders from West Bengal are expected to be accommodated. The names of Deepa Dashmunshi and Adhir Choudhury, known detractors of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and West Bengal PCC chief Pradeep Bhatacharjee are doing the rounds.