PM reviews works of various ministries

Amid speculation about possible cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met his council of ministers here on Thursday and reviewed important projects and works of various ministries, official sources said.

Modi's meeting with his council of ministers comes a day after he met Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at his residence.

After the Wednesday meeting, speculation mounted that Modi, who took over as the Prime Minister in May 2014, may carry out his first major ministerial reshuffle.

The sources said the union ministers also made presentations on the performance of their ministries to Modi.

"Overall it was a lengthy exercise as several ministers were asked to make presentations of the works of their ministries. Basically a comparative study of some key developmental and social service ministries were made on the situation in 2014 and now after two years," a source told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

In the possible reshuffle and expansion of his council of ministers, the Prime Minister is likely to keep regional balances especially in view of coming elections in key states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab.

Even as there was no confirmation whether a possible "reshuffle" of the Union council of ministers figured in Thursday's meeting, party sources earlier this month had indicated that the Modi and the BJP leadership could consider "additional representation" from poll-bound states in the expansion.

A senior party leader, however, said, "cabinet expansion or reshuffle is essentially a prerogative of Prime Minister".

The possible reshuffle of the union council of ministers could actually also coincide with an organisational shape up in the BJP.

--IANS

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