New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new cabinet has now 36 fresh faces and the youngest cabinet of India. While the reshuffle surprised many, the most shocking events were the resignations by the 12 cabinet ministers on Wednesday before the new list of ministers was released.
The resignations saw some big names such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, and Dr. Harsh Vardhan. As many wondered what it took for PM Modi to ask them to resign, sources have revealed that all it took was one phone call from the BJP President JP Nadda.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi was discussing his first cabinet reshuffle for the Modi 2.0 govt on Wednesday, BJP President was assigned the job to call the 11 ministers. JO Nadda sat down and dialed each of them asking them to put down their papers as PM Modi is expanding his cabinet.
Sources further revealed that there was not much question of 'why' by the ministers and as soon as Nadda asked them Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar tendered their resignations.
In a similar manner, others also went ahead and resigned. Sources said the then Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal typed a 3-page resignation and listed all the work done by the ministry while citing health reasons for quitting the position.
President Ram Nath Kovind received and accepted the resignations of Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, D V Sadananda Gowda, Santosh Gangwar, Sanjay Dhotre, Debasree Chaudhuri, Rattan Lal Kataria, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, and Babul Supriyo.
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot had resigned after he was made Governor of Karnataka on Tuesday.
In all, six Cabinet Ministers, one Minister of State (Independent Charge), and five Ministers of State have resigned.
Whether these ministers will be assigned some other meaty role is still unknown but according to ABP sources, speculations are being made about their political future. There is a possibility that some of them may be entrusted with other responsibilities in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) framework. There is a possibility that the excluded leaders, including Prasad, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, and Javadekar, may be given a meaty role in BJP's parliamentary board.