New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday called on President Pratibha Patil amidst speculations that the impending cabinet reshuffle could be just round the corner.
Singh drove on to the President’s House and spent approximately 45 minutes.
“The two leaders discussed about the forthcoming monsoon session of the parliament and the current political situation. They also discussed various other issues of national and international importance,” a release from the president’s office said.
There is no clarity yet on whether the two leaders discussed the shape of the cabinet reshuffle and its timing.
Political circles, however, say that it is possible only after July 8, since President Patil is proceeding on a weeklong holiday at Hyderabad with her family starting Saturday.
Not cosmetic
While Singh himself had termed the reshuffle as work in progress during his Wednesday interaction with select group of senior editors, sources in the ruling Congress party suggest that the reshuffle would not be cosmetic in nature as both Singh and the party chief Sonia Gandhi are serious about getting rid of non-performing ministers and replace them with new faces.
The appraisal exercise has been on for sometime. Sonia Gandhi held one-to-one meeting with some of the ministers whom she would like to draft to work for the party.
Singh is said to be serious about dropping tainted ministers in order to rid his government of the image of being corrupt in the wake of a string of corruption charges involving some of the ministers and ruling coalition lawmakers.
Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who is facing corruption charges, had called on Prime Minister Singh on Thursday amid indications that he would be dropped.
