Chhattisgarh: Raman to reconstitute his ministry

Raipur, July 2: Dr Raman Singh-led BJP ministry in Chhattisgarh will be expanded this evening, official sources said.

Governor E S L Narasimhan will administer the oath of office and secrecy to those to be inducted into the 43 month old ministry at a function scheduled at Rajbhawan at 1700 hours.

Party sources hinted that senior BJP leader Amar Agrawal, who had quit as Finance Minister in January this year, was all set to return to the cabinet.

The Chief minister is scheduled to convene a meeting of his council of ministers this afternoon when all 11 ministers are expected to tender their resignation to enable Dr Singh to re-constitute his ministry.

BJP sources did not rule out the possibility of induction of few new faces in the ministry and a major reshuffle of portfolios among the ministers.

Mr Amar Agrawal, son of party veteran Lakhiram Agrawal, had quit the ministry after a section of party leaders blamed him for the BJP candidate's defeat in the Kota assembly by-election where Mrs Reju Jogi, wife of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, won by an impressive margin on a Congress ticket.

Expansion and reshuffle of the BJP ministry was also necessitated as a number of ministers were facing criticism from the party's rank and file for what they term as their ''inaccessable and arrogant behaviour''.

The issue had also cropped up at the state BJP core group meeting, which was also attended by party president Rajnath Singh and Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, incharge of party affairs in Chhattisgarh.

The reshuffle is also being seen as an attempt to refurbish the image of party and its government ahead of next assembly elections scheduled next year.

UNI