New Delhi, October 13
The Vajpayee government is likely to launch a major security operation in the Kashmir valley shortly and, for this, it is in a hurry to appoint a full-fledged Defence Minister, most likely Mr K.C. Pant.

Well-placed sources here said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has scheduled a series of meetings with his senior Cabinet colleagues today and tomorrow to clinch the knotty issue of a brief but significant Cabinet reshuffle, expected to take place on Monday at 12 noon.

The government is understood to be feeling the need of a full-fledged Defence Minister so pressingly that it is not in a mood to wait for the start of the extremely auspicious period of “Navratras”, beginning on October 17.

Former Defence Minister George Fernandes is unlikely to be reinducted into the Cabinet as of now, sources disclosed. It is understood that Mr Fernandes, who met the Prime Minister for half an hour this evening, has been assured by the government that his reinduction would follow before the winter session of Parliament starts on November 19.

The Justice Venkataswamy Commission, probing the Tehelka scandal which led to Mr Fernandes’ ouster from the Cabinet, is likely to submit its final report to the government by mid-November. If the commission indeed is able to submit its final report in a month’s time and gives a clean chit to Mr Fernandes, it would clear the decks for his reinduction.

Former Union Minister Harin Pathak, the charge sheet against whom in a criminal case was thrown out of the window by the Gujarat High Court, is also likely to stage a comeback to the Union Council of Ministers.