Four senior Union ministers -- Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' -- were among 11 ministers who resigned on Wednesday ahead of the cabinet reshuffle.

Besides them, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria, Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Minister of State for Environment Babul Supriyo also resigned.

According to top government sources, all it took was one phone call. Sources told News 18 that BJP National President JP Nadda dialled 11 Union Ministers and asked them to put in their papers ahead of the rejig.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot had resigned after he was made Governor of Karnataka on Tuesday.

In all, six Cabinet Ministers, one Minister of State (Independent Charge) and five Ministers of State have resigned.

Law and IT minister Prasad's resignation comes amid a row between micro-blogging platform Twitter and the government over various issues, including compliance with the new IT rules. The resignations come after Prasad and I&B minister Javadekar announced sweeping regulations for social media firms like Facebook and Twitter, OTT players as well as digital media. Health Minister Vardhan, whose handling of the COVID-19 crisis had drawn flak from the opposition parties, resigned from the Union Council of Ministers, official sources said.

Vardhan, a doctor himself, had been in charge of the health ministry as well as the science and technology ministry as the COVID pandemic broke and then India worked to develop vaccines. However, his various comments in the middle of the crisis were slammed by many as insensitive and ignorant of the ground reality, even as he strongly defended the government's handling of the situation.

This is the first reshuffle in the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019. An extensive and protracted review was carried out by Modi and the BJP top brass through a series of meetings with ministers ahead of Wednesday's big exercise.

The expansion-cum-reshuffle of the Cabinet is seen by many political observers as an image makeover exercise by Modi as he brought in young faces and gave representation to various social groups and regions in the government.

(With inputs from PTI)

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Jul 8, 2021 6:36 PM IST