New Delhi: As many as 19 new ministers, half a dozen of them from Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls in 2017, are set to be inducted into his team by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
The "expansion" in the Union Council of Ministers is also expected to see elevation of at least one minister to Cabinet rank, sources said. Some of the 19 new ministers are expected to get Independent charge.
Ahead of the expansion, Modi was quoted as saying that the expansion of his ministry will reflect "budget focus and priorities".
BJP sources said some ministers may also be dropped.
Senior Ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar and Sushma Swaraj will retain their Cabinet posts.
Leaders likely to be inducted into Modi Cabinet are Purushottam Rupala, SS Ahluwalia, Ramdas Athawale, Anupriya Patel, Ajay Tamta, Krishna Raj, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre and PP Chaudhary.
The names of Rajya Sabha MPs Vijay Goel, MJ Akbar, Anil Madhav Dave have also been doing the rounds as possible inductions.
Faggan Singh Kulhaste, who was embroiled in the cash-for-votes scam during the UPA-1 rule, CR Chaudhary, Jasvantsinh Bhabhor, Rajen Gohain and Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi are also likely to be inducted
The Cabinet will get a new Minister of State for Sports (independent charge), a post which fell vacant after Sarbananda Sonowal became the Chief Minister of Assam.
The sources said the expansion comes after an "exhaustive vetting and selection process" to find the best talent.
The first expansion had occurred in November 2014. There are currently 64 Union ministers, including the Prime Minister, and there can be a maximum of 82 of them under a constitutional bar.
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