India’s 12 ministers resign ahead of big cabinet reshuffle

Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mega cabinet expansion, 12 ministers and state ministers of the central government of the country have resigned from their posts.

India’s central government ministers D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Thaawarchand Gehlot. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Babul Supriyo, Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Rattan Lal Kataria, Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Debasree Chaudhuri submitted resignation letters on Wednesday, report Hindustan Times and livemint.com.

People familiar with the developments told news agencies that at least 43 new ministers will be inducted into the revamped central cabinet of India.

Indian news agencies have described Health Minister Harsh Vardhan's resignation as the biggest surprise. His resignation comes soon after education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and labour minister Santosh Gangwar stepped down from their posts, making way for some big-ticket announcements as both education and health are crucial and challenging departments to fill in amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.