Top BJP guns likely to retain a place in Modi Cabinet

Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani are likely to be retained in Narendra Modi's second government that will be sworn in on Thursday evening.

Calls have gone to these leaders as well as Karnataka BJP MPs Sadananda Gowda, presently a Union Minister, Pralhad Joshi and Suresh Angadi.

There is no official word about the possible ministers in the new government. Also, it is also not clear whether BJP chief Amit Shah will be in the Cabinet.

From the allies, sources said that the calls have gone to JD(U)'s R C P Singh, Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur, RPI(A)'s Ramdas Athawale, Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel and Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant.

Other names doing the rounds include Prakash Javadekar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Thawar Chand Gehlot, who are already in the outgoing Modi Cabinet.

From West Bengal, Babul Supriyo is likely to retain his place in the Council of Ministers while BJP's Raiganj MP Debasree Chaudhari has also received calls for the swearing-in. Kishan Reddy is likely to be BJP's representative from Telangana while incumbent Ministers Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandaviya, both from Gujarat, are also likely to be part of the new government.

Earlier in the day, BJP president Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the third time in three days to give final touches to the list of ministers to be sworn in. The swearing in will be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 7 PM on Thursday.

It is expected that Modi would go in for a Council of Ministers that have representation from various states, including from West Bengal and Odisha where the BJP has won impressively. States like Kerala where BJP failed to open an account may also get representation this time.

While the government can induct a maximum of 81 ministers, Modi is unlikely to fill all the seats this time. Sources said around 60 ministers are expected to take oath on Thursday, while the rest will be filled in a reshuffle later. In 2014, Modi first took oath along with 45 others.