Prime Minister Narendra Modi may drop Union Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla from his Cabinet and bring on board a leader from the Shiv Sena, which the BJP recently rekindled its alliance with in Maharashtra.
It has been learnt that the prime minister is contemplating removing Heptulla from the government as he is unhappy with her performance as minority affairs minister, but wants her exit to be “honourable”. For this reason, she is likely to be made a governor at the year end, since she would turn 75 early next year.
Heptulla was born on April 14, 1940. Modi had set up a cut-off age of 75 for ministers in his government, since he wanted young minds and energetic leaders to be part of his team.
Government sources said there are vacancies for the post of governor in five states—Punjab, Assam, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Senior leaders of similar ages, such as former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh and Ram Nayak, had been made governors earlier.
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