Cabinet reshuffle soon? BJP's organisational rejig, Rajya Sabha nominations hint at changes

NEW DELHI: Speculation is rife over a possible reshuffle in Union Cabinet after a rejig in BJP's state units and Rajya Sabha ticket allotments.With the completion of 12 years of the BJP-led NDA government and the second year of its third term, Prime Minister Modi may effect a reshuffle in his ministry sometime soon, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.As a new team under party president Nitin Nabin is set to be announced within this month, some leaders holding positions in the government may move to the party, sources added.In Delhi, Union minister Harsh Malhotra has been appointed as the state unit head, while another Union minister, Pankaj Chaudhary, was appointed president of the Uttar Pradesh unit in December 2025.Nabin has toured across states to gather feedback and fine-tune organisational machinery.Meanwhile, two Union ministers, Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian, have not been renominated for the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections even though their tenures are coming to an end soon. Debashish Samantaray, who quit BJD to join BJP, has been fielded for the Odisha bypoll.Sources told PTI that Bittu will concentrate on next year's assembly election in Punjab. BJP is likely to assign a key role to Bittu, whose Rajya Sabha tenure is ending this month.The decision not to renominate Bittu, also a Jat Sikh and grandson of former CM Beant Singh, has surprised political circles, but there is a view that he may be asked to focus on the coming polls. Kurian, a seasoned BJP member from Kerala, lost in the assembly polls held recently in the state.Assembly elections in Punjab are slated for early next year, and BJP is leaving nothing to chance to wrest the border state from AAP.In 2022, Cabinet ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and R C P Singh had quit before their Rajya Sabha terms were over and were later not renominated to the House.Among the Rajya Sabha candidates, BJP has named its state president A Sharda Devi from Manipur and former state chief Tai Tagak from Arunachal Pradesh. From Gujarat, it has picked four new faces, including three relatively young functionaries — Rajubhai Shukla, Mukeshbhai Rathwa, Mansingh Parmar and Jitendra Kanzariya — with a focus on OBC and tribal communities.BJP is all but certain to seal all 10 seats — four from Gujarat, two each from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and one each from Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh — besides the lone bypoll seat from Odisha due to its numerical strength. It is in office in all these states. Elections to 24 seats and a bypoll to one are due on June 18.