Manmohan Singh

New Delhi, July 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to shuffle his ministry in the next month and a half, but Sonia Gandhi is believed to be keen on a revamp in the Congress organisation.

Sources said a ministry shuffle was improbable before the end of the monsoon session of Parliament, which starts on August 10 and continues till September 14.

But if one happens before that, it would be a “small affair” that is not expected to affect the top Congress ministers: P. Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, A.K. Antony, Arjun Singh and Sushil Kumar Shinde.

United Progressive Alliance constituents such as the Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the DMK have been demanding more ministry berths. The Prime Minister, keen to thank the allies for their support to Pratibha Patil, is reportedly willing.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar wants the minister of state for civil aviation, Praful Patel, to be promoted as a full-fledged cabinet minister. Lalu Prasad wants another party member in.

The railway minister has cited how, despite the RJD having eight more MPs than the DMK’s 16, both parties have the same number of ministers: seven.

He made out his case for “proportional representation” just as M. Karunanidhi conveyed his wish to see his daughter Kanimozhi as a minister of state.

There has been sporadic speculation about Singh wanting to drop under-performing and aged ministers — such as Shivraj Patil, Arjun Singh and H.R. Bharadwaj — and bringing in younger MPs.

But thanks to the perceived botch-up over the selection of the party’s presidential candidate — when more than half-a-dozen names kept circulating — none of the veterans is likely to be put through another round of embarrassment.

The only change the Congress is talking about is the induction of K. Rahman Khan, deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, into the cabinet.