Union Cabinet reshuffle delayed or is it that PM Modi has shelved his plan?

New Delhi: All available indications suggest that the much-awaited Union Cabinet reshuffle might take place after the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament though no definite time frame could be given.

It all depends on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his assessment of the political requirements.

Some in the ruling party are of the view that the rejig might not even happen now given that just 7-8 months are left for the next Lok Sabha elections. Also, three months from now there will be assembly elections in five states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.

Hence, the political parties will be in election mode from October onwards.

The BJP has made some key organisational changes and shuffled many general secretaries keeping in mind the upcoming elections.

The talk of the Union Cabinet reshuffle has been going on since January this year. The buzz grew louder when the Prime Minister had an elaborate interaction with his Council of Ministers recently with many suggesting that it was an appraisal meeting.

The appointment of Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy as the BJP president in Telangana also gave a hint of impending changes.

But then the monsoon session began and the buzz subsided.

This uncertainty does not prevail in the BJP only. The other main political party, rather the oldest one, is also yet to announce its organisational changes. There has been no Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, has not been reconstituted after it was dissolved nine months ago in October last year, a sort of record for the grand old party.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has so far announced some piecemeal organisational changes. He is currently in the tenth month of his tenure.

Questions have been raised within the Congress over such a delay with party workers pointing out that Kharge's authority was being undermined by not letting him choose his own team even as many union ministers are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that they would be allowed to continue till the end of the term.