NEW DELHI: Amid growing indications that a reshuffle in the Union Cabinet can go in tandem with BJP’s organisational changes, party president Nitin Nabin is learnt to be giving the final touches to his team of office-bearers.BJP sources had earlier indicated the organisational overhaul would be done by month-end, with changes likely to bear relation to the reshuffle that may happen in the central ministry. The speculation about reshuffle spiked Thursday following Nabin’s consultations with a couple of ministers of state.Party circles feel the organisational reshuffle will follow the declaration of its Uttar Pradesh unit of office-bearers, which was done Thursday. The drastic overhaul in the UP team with focus on relatively younger faces and representation of a wide array of OBC castes — being seen as a counter to Samajwadi Party’s PDA (pichhda, dalit, alpasankhyak) pitch in the state — has given rise to the view that a similar composition may be reflected in BJP’s national team as the party seeks to deepen its roots in key caste demographics, besides youth and women.With PM Modi known for keeping the exercise for changes in govt under wraps until the last minute, sources said a studied silence over the issue, but the shift of some ministers to organisational duties and resignation of minister George Kurian after his Rajya Sabha membership was not renewed have fuelled the buzz of reshuffle, more so as govt is now into its third year without any rejig. Though the defection of 20 rebel TMC MPs to NDA camp and six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs joining Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde have lent credence to the reshuffle possibility, this, however, also means that it may happen only after LS Speaker Om Birla decides on the MPs’ move as their parent parties have called their shift as illegal.
