00:00All right, the latest news break coming in, which have intensified speculations of a possible cabinet reshuffle.
00:07Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, L. Murugan, has made a major decision.
00:13He's urged Prime Minister Modi to allow him to work in Tamil Nadu.
00:17Murugan says, Pradhan Mantriji, with humility and a grateful heart, I therefore request you to relieve me of my responsibilities
00:24as Minister of State
00:25and permit me to relinquish my membership to the Rajya Sabha, so that I may dedicate myself full-time to
00:31strengthen the party in Tamil Nadu.
00:33I want to go to every village on every street, meet our people, stand beside our karyakartas and help expand
00:40the party's presence in every part of the state.
00:43I want to carry your message of sabka sap, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas to every person and help every family
00:50see its place in the journey towards Viksit Bharat.
00:53Listen in.
00:57Today I wrote a letter to our Honorable Prime Minister Srinarendra Munaji that I request that you kindly relieve me
01:03from the Rajya Sabha member and Council of Ministers
01:07because I want to work from Tamil Nadu to strengthen the grassroots level to the party because I want to
01:13prepare our party to 2029 election
01:16because our Honorable Prime Minister continues to third-time Prime Minister and our Prime Minister's Viksit Bharat, we send Tamil
01:22Nadu's big state.
01:23From Tamil Nadu, we want to bring sizable members of parliament from Tamil Nadu.
01:30So for that, everyone joined and we will work hard.
01:35All right, so the latest right now coming in, it seems El Murugan has attended in his resignation.
01:42Once again, viewers, the resignation of El Murugan only go on to field speculations of an impending cabinet reshuffle.
01:50Ever since the last couple of months, there has been intense political speculation that there will be a cabinet reshuffle
01:59soon.
01:59And now with the resignation of Mr Murugan coming in, suggesting that, urging the Prime Minister to relieve him of
02:07all his duties
02:08and as well allow him to relinquish the post of Rajya Sabha.
02:14The speculations that have been rife for the last couple of months have only been fueled further of a possible
02:23cabinet reshuffle.
02:24We are going to cut across to our BJP reporter who covers the party very closely in just about a
02:29minute.
02:30But I want to bring in my colleague Pramod Madhu first.
02:33Pramod, you know, the name of Mr El Murugan was already making the rounds that he could be one of
02:39the people who would be stepping down,
02:41especially as Tamil Nadu elections have finished, to make space for further cabinet expansion.
02:48It surely is pretty. And interestingly, this decision has come after the recent visit of the Prime Minister Modi to
02:53Tamil Nadu,
02:54where El Murugan was also a part of it.
02:56And he was actually in every part of the Prime Minister's programs in his recent visit to Chennai.
03:02And interestingly, he says that he wants to return back to the state's politics,
03:05where Naina Nagyav is the president right now.
03:07But during his visit, El Murugan's period as the state president,
03:11there was a kind of a good relationship with ADMK, BJP was able to get poor MLAs in the state
03:17of Tamil Nadu.
03:17So all this is going in favor of El Murugan.
03:20And he has also had a good stint as the Minister of the Union in the center as well.
03:24So it looks like after the recent visit of the Prime Minister, El Murugan wants to come back.
03:28And there is also, I mean, BJP leaders are very clearly stating that there's a kind of like necessary void
03:33that needs to be filled in the state of Tamil Nadu, considering Anna Malay is also not part of the
03:38Tamil Nadu BJP.
03:39And it looks like these are all, we've been told that these could be the many reasons
03:43among El Murugan's decision to actually go ahead and give his resignation to the Prime Minister now, Priti.
03:49All right. Thank you, Pramod, for joining us with the very latest.
03:53We're going to cut across to our BJP reporter, Piyush Mishra, I believe, is joining us on the phone line,
03:59viewers.
03:59It's all the more interesting because, yes, El Murugan, as Pramod was elucidating here,
04:04has bona fide reasons to step down to strengthen the state unit of BJP and Tamil Nadu,
04:10keeping an eye on elections in 2029.
04:13Having said that, this resignation now has fuelled further speculation of a cabinet reshuffle,
04:18which has already been spoken of in the power circles where Delhi is concerned.
04:24Cutting across to colleague Piyush Mishra on the phone line.
04:26Piyush, is a cabinet reshuffle now on the cards, considering the first wicket has dropped to make space for further
04:35accommodation?
04:37Well, that's right. If you talk about the total number of ministers, you know, who are likely to be dropped
04:42as of now,
04:43we can certainly expect eight, according to the strength which was there in Modi government.
04:49Remember that the leaders like Hargeef Singh, Puri, B.L. Barnard, they have not been given ticket this time.
04:54So, most likely, they are going to be dropped.
04:56Dharmin Pradhan has already resigned.
04:58Apart from that, Ravni Singh, they too, and George Kurian, they have also resigned.
05:04Pankar Chaudhuri is now UP BJP president.
05:07Harsh Malhotra is now Delhi BJP president.
05:10And now, when Andrew Murugan has also offered to resign,
05:13it is certainly failing the way for a cabinet reshuffle.
05:17And this reshuffle was also imminent for so long.
05:21And after around eight ministers, who are almost out of the Modi cabinet,
05:27they leave the reshuffle.
05:28And obviously, the government will have to accommodate new places on their places.
05:34Now, we will have to wait and watch how the deliberations are further going to take.
05:38Remember that in the past few days, there have been many changes.
05:41In the sanction of Bharati Jenta Party, now it's the chance, it's the time for cabinet reshuffle
05:47and most likely reshuffle to happen in a few days from now.
05:52All right.
05:53So, once again, the way being paved for a cabinet reshuffle,
05:57when will it happen is the big question
05:59because there have been intense speculations in the past as well.
