Sheila to rejig Cabinet today, Goswami may be new man in

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is all set to make a massive reshuffle in the Cabinet to refurbish the image of her Government. On Tuesday night, she took resignations of all her Ministers to allow herself a free hand to shape up the new Cabinet.

Three-term MLA and vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Ramakant Goswami in all likelihood would be the new face in the Cabinet.

The oath-taking ceremony for the new Minister is scheduled for Wednesday noon. Sources said that even those who are retained in the new Cabinet would have different portfolios.

The move comes ahead of the Budget Session of the Assembly and soon after the official celebration of the completion of 12 years of the Congress rule in the National capital. The Ministers were surprised by the call to 3 Moti Lal Nehru Marg, the residence of the Chief Minister.

When Dikshit met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday afternoon, it was believed that the meeting was in the context of the major transfers of bureaucrats belonging to UT Cadre out of the national Capital. However, by late evening it was cleared that she had got her green signal from the party’s top brass for carrying out the changes.

Initially, it was reported that only low performing Dikshit’s loyalist Labour and Social Welfare Minister Mangat Ram Singhal would be shown the door.

However, slowly it turned out that it could be larger reshuffle with all the Ministers being asked to put their papers. The exercise was carried out without the presence of any other senior leaders of the party. The only other person present with the Chief Minister was her political secretary Pawan Khera.

In fact, late on Tuesday evening, party's MPs and MLAs frantically called up their friends in media and politics to find out whether reshuffle was on cards. An old timer said that this is the first time that the Chief Minister has taken such a major decision without the aide, advice or even knowledge of other senior party leaders, even AICC functionaries, who were at a meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at 24 Akbar Road on Tuesday evening.

Insiders say that the move is reminiscent of the mass reshuffle by Dikshit in 2002 when she dropped veterans and inducted the then fresh faces like Ajay Maken and Haroon Yusuf giving them their first big break. "It is to be seen whether it is just Goswami, or there are other to be sworn in on Wednesday," said insiders.

As per the provision, the size of the Delhi Cabinet cannot exceed seven, including Chief Minister.