Why PM Modi’s Cabinet rejig may be further delayed

For a fortnight now, power corridors in the national capital have been abuzz with talks of a Union Cabinet reshuffle and a major one at that. Many observers have stuck their necks out about timelines for change and scale of the revamp, only to get things wrong.

A cabinet rejig was anyway not on the cards until after a comprehensive restructuring of the BJP organisation. Saffron sources have indicated multiple times that the party’s youngest ever president Nitin Nabin will first select his team only after which the PM will make changes to his council of ministers.

Once it is clear who is to be moved across two segments of power — BJP party and the government — the cabinet composition will be reviewed. Now, first things first — a BJP rejig has not happened despite Nitin Nabin being elected the party’s 12th president months ago on January 19 this year.

First signs of a BJP revamp appeared last fortnight when the RSS top brass met with senior BJP strategists, including Nabin and Home Minister Amit Shah, at the residence of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. Besides other things, discussions are learnt to have taken place on who the RSS could loan to the BJP for future work and planning. A key BJP post which an RSS leader fills is that of party general secretary organisation. Its current incumbent is BL Santosh. But bets may be placed on a younger RSS leader for this role with the name of Sunil Bansal, the man who delivered Bengal for BJP, doing the rounds.

A follow up meeting on organisational changes in the BJP happened again this week at the residence of Amit Shah. Nitin Nabin and BL Santosh attended in indications of forward movement on changes in the BJP. Main segments which will witness a change in the BJP restructuring process are — Parliamentary board, the party’s highest decision making body chaired by PM Modi; the segments of BJP’s vice-presidents, general secretaries, secretaries and state incharges.

Uttar Pradesh, which goes to elections in 2027, recently witnessed a reorganisation when Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was named state unit chief and a new party organisation was announced about ten days ago. Next in line is the Punjab rejig, where the BJP has tasked Jat leader from Rajasthan Satish Poonia to handle affairs of the party while the state organisation is redone.

Once party positions are sealed, a Union Cabinet revamp will come into the picture. As it is, timelines for both have been stretched with the BJP currently prioritising legislative agenda for the forthcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament over a Cabinet revamp. Amit Shah is personally overseeing the progress of The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which links delimitation to the preponement of 33 % women’s reservation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies to 2029 general elections.

Also in the pipeline is The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill which seeks to remove prime minister, chief ministers and ministers from office in case they stay detained for serious crimes beyond one straight month. This Bill is being finalised by a joint parliamentary committee which is expected to table a report during the upcoming session. As government agenda takes precedence over all else, the PM appears in no haste to redo his cabinet. He is anyway not in India for the week commencing tomorrow as he travels to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand from July 6 to July 11.

Sources say the imperative of numbers in the Lok Sabha, where the government needs a two-thirds majority to pass Constitution amendment bills, may also be delaying a Cabinet reshuffle which could even be stretched until after the conclusion of the Monsoon Session.

Insiders say they see no immediate signs of change in the Cabinet nor any build up to anything. In fact, ministers, who were rumoured to be ousted, have been assigned key field visits this past week. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was by PM’s side for the inauguration of India’s first greenfield refinery of the HPCL in Rajasthan’s Barmer on Saturday. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was in Mumbai on Sunday for a major milestone in the journey of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project with the launch of the first tunnel boring machine excavation in Mumbai.

So, signals are that the PM is in no rush to rearrange his Cabinet and may do it when everyone is least expecting. He has so far restructured his council on four occasions — November 2014; July 2016; September 2017 and July 2021. So far as today goes, three ministerial slots have been in question for a while ever since their occupants got other roles or saw Rajya Sabha terms end.

These are MoS for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary — appointed UP BJP president; MoS Road Transport Harsh Malhotra — appointed Delhi BJP chief and MoS Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu — whose Rajya Sabha term expired on June 21.It remains to be seen if the PM will drop Bittu or Chaudhary, both prominent community leaders from election bound Punjab and UP, respectively. While Bittu is a Jat Sikh, Chaudhary is a Kurmi OBC.