File photo of Manohar Parrikar (Left) meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Press Trust of India)
The BJP said today that a meeting of top leaders, called the Parliamentary board, discussed who would be Goa's next chief minister with Manohar Parrikar resigning today. Mr Parrikar is headed to Delhi where he is tipped to become the country's next Defence Minister.
Here are the latest developments in this story:
Mr Parrikar is expected to be take oath in Delhi on Sunday.
But BJP leader JP Nadda did not talk about the Cabinet expansion today. "Two points were discussed (in the BJP Parliamentary board) - about the Goa legislative party leader and the Rajya Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh. The Parliamentary board's decision will be announced at 4:00 pm," he told reporters after today's meeting.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi and did not attend the Parliamentary Board meeting which was chaired by BJP chief Amit Shah.
The Cabinet expansion is scheduled to take place on Sunday. The ceremony at the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan is expected to begin at 1.30 pm on Sunday, sources said.
Ahead of the swearing-in, Prime Minister Modi will meet all of those who will be inducted, over "tea and dhokla" and is expected to deliver a pep talk before they leave for Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The list of new ministers is expected to balance regional aspirations and electoral considerations. Also allies Shiv Sena and Telugu Desam Party are set to get more ministers, sources said.
Olympic Silver medalist Rajyawardhan Rathore is a hot contender to become minister. He won from Rajasthan in the national election; the state gave all 25 parliamentary seats to the BJP, but has only one central minister right now.
Also in the list of probable new ministers are Giriraj Singh and Ramkirpal Yadav of Bihar, which will vote for a new assembly next year. Both the BJP lawmakers represent powerful Bihar votebanks.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP spokesman for a long time and one of the party's most prominent Muslim faces, could also be made a minister, sources said.
Apart from new inductions, the Prime Minister is also expected to reshuffle portfolios, promote some ministers and could even axe a few based on a performance assessment.
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