Stand-alone PM

New Delhi is again abuzz with the possibility of a Cabinet expansion. The names likely to be inducted in the Narendra Modi Council of Ministers vary according to which Bharatiya Janata Party or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders journalists speak with. Some journalists have even taken to assessing exactly when the PM was likely to go in for a Cabinet reshuffle, pointing out that by November 11 he is to embark on a nine-day foreign visit, and there will be little time for a reshuffle once he returns since the winter session of Parliament begins on November 24. Significantly, it was a senior party leader who put an end to all this speculation, saying nobody, not even the PM's closest advisers, was likely to know his plans so many days in advance. It is quite possible, the senior leader added, that there might not even be a Cabinet expansion, underlining the point that the prime minister was very much his own man.