India ruling party leaders 'meet on cabinet reshuffle'

NEW DELHI: India's ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi met embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday, media reports said, fuelling talk of an imminent cabinet reshuffle.

Congress party officials confirmed the meeting between the two leaders, the third in a week, but would not say what was discussed, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

"The shuffle appears to be next week, maybe as early as Monday," The Times of India newspaper separately quoted an unnamed Congress leader as saying.

Expectations of cabinet changes were heightened after a second minister resigned on Thursday over allegations of corruption, dealing another blow to Singh and creating a vacancy.

Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran stepped down after being named in a police court report that suggested he abused his powers in the 2006 sale of second-generation (2G) mobile phone licences when he was telecom minister.

Maran's departure was the latest setback for Singh, whose upright image has suffered as a series of graft scandals have buffeted his administration over the past year.

Maran, 44, is the second minister from the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) party to quit the government after his successor at the telecoms ministry, A. Raja, resigned last year over the alleged fraudulent sale of new 2G telecom spectrum in 2008.

Raja is in custody awaiting trial, along with several top government officials, business executives and the daughter of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi.

The reshuffle is expected ahead of the next session of parliament, beginning on August 1, in which Singh is seeking to reclaim the anti-graft agenda, vowing to introduce a new corruption bill when the house opens.

There was a minor cabinet reshuffle earlier in the year, but observers expect more extensive changes this time. The party leaders may also bring in younger politicians, as many of the current cabinet are in their 60s and 70s.

Singh, 78, and Gandhi "are aware that the cabinet reshuffle will have to be an image makeover", India's CNN-IBN television network commented on its website.

Last month, Singh rejected criticism at a live press conference with Indian news editors that he had become a "lame duck" leader who had turned a blind eye to the spate of corruption scandals wracking his government.

He promised a cabinet reshuffle that would infuse fresh energy into his administration.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011