Reshuffle of Union Council of Ministers likely

A reshuffle-cum-expansion of the Union Council of Ministers may be undertaken in the next fortnight.
Sources say that the rejig could happen between June 6 and June 12, which may be the last reshuffle in the UPA 2 with Lok Sabha elections less than a year away.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on Friday indicated that a Cabinet reshuffle could be on the cards to fill up the vacancies.
"There are some vacancies. The issue of filling them up is being considered," Singh told reporters on his way back from Japan and Thailand.
The Prime Minister was asked whether he was contemplating a Cabinet reshuffle in view of vacancies created by the resignations of P K Bansal and Ashwani Kumar.

Bansal quit as Railways Minister earlier this month in the wake of bribery scandal involving his nephew and a Railway Board member. Kumar also resigned as Law Minister following controversy over vetting of a CBI probe report on coal block allocation scam.
The portfolio of Railways has been given to Road and Highways Minister C P Joshi as an additional charge while that of Law has gone to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal as additional ministry.