From CK Nayak
New Delhi: NPP leader Purno A. Sangma and NPF leader Neiphiu Rio are likely to get berths in the Union ministry after the ensuing Lok Sabha session, reports indicate. Presently, some ministers are holding dual portfolios which they will have to shed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to expand his Cabinet after June 15 and according to sources, he is likely to induct 25 more Ministers. Most of them will be Ministers of State. Modi is also likely to appoint a new, fulltime defence minister. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is holding additional charge of defence.
There has been a demand for greater participation of BJP MPs in the government. Some key allies like Shiv Sena and TDP also may get more berths in the Cabinet. Shiv Sena has been demanding that it should get more berths.
Sangma, the former Lok Sabha Speaker who has been elected 10 times to the Lok Sabha, will be in the panel of chairmen who would preside over the brief session of the new Lok Sabha which would start from June 4 The first session of the newly constituted 16th Lok Sabha will continue up to June 12 with President Pranab Mukherjee addressing the joint sitting of both Houses on June 9, Union Parliamentary Affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday. “We have consulted the three senior most M.Ps including Mr Sangma and have taken their consent,” he said after the cabinet meeting.Senior Congress MP Kamal Nath will be the Pro-tem Speaker who will administer the oath to the new members. He will be assisted by a panel of Chairmen, consisting of Arjun Charan Sethi (BJD), Purno A Sangma (National People’s Party) and Biren Singh Engti (Congress).
After the new members take oath on June 4 and 5, the Speaker will be elected on the next day. The Rajya Sabha will commence from June 9 after the joint sitting. “We are studying various precedents while discussing the issue. There is still time to take that call,” Naidu said when asked whether Congress would be given the post of the Leader of Opposition despite it not having the requisite numbers. “We have not zeroed in on anyone. We don’t want to zero in anyone,” he said when asked whether any name has been shortlisted for the post of the Speaker.