Cabinet reshuffle today

NEW DELHI, JAN 18
The much-talked about reshuffle and expansion of the Union council of ministers will take place at 5 pm tomorrow amidst indications that Salman Khurshid, Praful Patel and Jairam Ramesh could be elevated to cabinet rank.
Indications also emerged that the ‘big four’ incumbents in finance, home, defence and external affairs may not be disturbed in the reshuffle, the first in the United Progressive Alliance-II after it retained power in May 2009.
 Singh, who held discussions today for over two hours with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, gave finishing touches to tomorrow’s exercise which Congress sources said would be a “moderate” affair.
Gandhi was accompanied by her Political Secretary Ahmed Patel in the discussions with Singh. In the evening, senior leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Gandhi.
In the reshuffle, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar may shed consumer affairs, one of the three portfolios he has, while Kapil Sibal may give up science and technology.
Sibal, who was given recently additional charge of telecom in the wake of exit of A Raja, may retain that. But there is speculation that human resource development, which he holds, could go to M Veerappa Moily in case Khurshid takes over as law minister, a portfolio currently with Moily.
 Equally strongly a section in the party feels that Sibal may continue to hold HRD development to maintain continunity in the ministry because he initiated a series of reforms.
There is speculation that Jyotiraditya Scindia, currently minister of State for commerce, may be shifted to external affairs. Shashi Tharoor who was MoS in the external Affairs ministry had to resign last year in the wake of Indian Premier League controversy.
With the possible elevation of Khurshid and moving to law, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan could be the new MoS for minority affairs.
The new faces being mentioned for possible induction are first timers in parliament  Meenakshi Natarajan, Manish Tiwari, Manicka Tagore.
Rajiv Shukla of Congress, Sudip  Bandopadhyay of Trinamool Congress and a Dravida Munetra Kazagham representative either T R Baalu or T K S Elangovan could be inducted. Baalu met the prime minister this morning.
Those who could face the axe include M S Gill (sports), Virbhadra Singh (steel), B K Handique (mines), C P Joshi (rural development) and Vilasrao Deshmukh (heavy industry).
Deshmukh and Joshi could be drafted for party work with the reconstitution of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on the cards immediately after the ministerial reshuffle.
Significantly, Virbhadra Singh and Tribal Affairs Minister Kantilal Bhuria were among the Congress leaders who met the party president today against speculation about their fate.
For the vacancy created by the resignation of Prithviraj Chavan as MoS in the Prime Minister’s Office, the names of Manish Tiwari and Ajay Maken are doing the rounds