New Delhi, July 7: As the nation waits for the much hyped and anticipated reshuffle of the Union Cabinet by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, there is good news for the people of North East.
The new Cabinet is expected to increase the representation from the region at atleast 5 MPs. From what is being talked about, the region will get two Union Cabinet Minister post and three Minister of State (MoS) posts. This will be the highest representation from the region since independence.
Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju (Arunachal Pradesh) and MoS Food Processing Rameshwar Teli (Assam) are likely to be retained.
However, Teli could have a strong contender in Pallab Lochan Das, BJP MP from Tezpur in Assam, and a close aide of Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Both Teli and Das are from tea tribe community; but party sources are saying Teli to be retained.
Sarbananda Sonowal is expected to be back in Union Cabinet after stint as Assam CM.
New faces are Dr. R.K Ranjan Singh from Manipur and Pratima Bhowmik from Tripura.
Meanwhile, many Ministers including Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers DV Sadananda Gowda, among others have put in their papers ahead of the Cabinet rejig even as the new Cabinet is expected to be bigger than the present one, with many already calling it a ‘jumbo Cabinet’.
