M A I N   N E W S

Cabinet expansion soon; Mamata may be back
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 23
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would go for a Cabinet-expansion-cum-reshuffle soon, in which Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee is likely to make a comeback.

According to sources, the Cabinet expansion was likely to be at this month-end or in the first week of September.

There was speculation in the BJP circles about the possible return to the Cabinet of former Union Ministers Chauba Singh and Dhananjay Kumar and one of the three Trinamool Congress MPs, Mr Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Mr Ajit Panja and Mr Dinesh Trivedi.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Names that are doing rounds for Rajya Sabha nomination include former Punjab Governor Lieut Gen J F R Jacob, actresses Hema Malini and Vijaya Shanthi, former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan and journalists T V R Shenoy and Tarun Vijay.

Eight nominated Rajya Sabha members retiring on August 26 are Dr Raja Ramanna, film personalities Mrinal Sen, Shabana Azmi, veteran journalist Kuldip Nayyar, educationists Dr Selvie Das, C Narayana Reddy and Harmohan Dhawan and novelist Kartar Singh Duggal.