The much-anticipated expansion of the Union Cabinet, the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his second term in May 2019, is expected to take place on Wednesday. The strength of the Cabinet may go up from 53 members to 81 members post the expansion.

This is the first major Cabinet reshuffle since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and there will be a lot of focus on performance going upto the five state elections in 2022. Elections are due in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab the next year. So, there will be focus in representation from these states and also pan-India representation keeping in mind the General Elections in 2024.

CNBC-TV18 has learnt that this will be the youngest Cabinet ever. There will be representation from the OBC community, the SC community, and women representation will be greater as well.

At least 25 to 28 new ministers could be inducted. Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Narayan Rane are some of the frontrunners. Pashupati Nath Paras, Anupriya Patel, Pritam Munde, RCP Singh are likely to be part of Modi's team.

Formal announcements could be made in the next few hours.

Watch the accompanying video of CNBC-TV18’s Parikshit Luthra for more details.

(Edited by : Priyanka Rathi)

First Published:Jul 7, 2021 2:09 PM IST