New Delhi, Saturday, July 09, 2011: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday held a private meeting with UPA President Sonia Gandhi for the third time ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle.

The reshuffle is likely to happen as early as Monday.

DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday after the CBI implicated him in the 2G Scam status report submitted to the Supreme Court. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also met DMK leader M Karunanidhi on Saturday to convince him about DMK-Congress relations.

The DMK had earlier made it clear that it won’t be pressing for replacements for Dayanidhi Maran or for former Telecom Minister A Raja which means the DMK is making its peace with holding just one cabinet berth now currently held by MK Alagiri.

It was being speculated that the two leaders may finalise the DMK’s portfolio in the new cabinet during this meeting. Mukherjee was asked questions on Cabinet reshuffle which he did not respond to.

In 2009, the Prime Minister had put his foot down on the induction of former Union Minister TR Baalu and may not want him now. Within the DMK too, Baalu has had differences with Stalin and has had a difficult equation with Dayanidhi Maran.

The bottom line though is that the DMK, which started UPA II with three cabinet berths, may now be happy with just one - that of Union Minister and Karunanidhi’s elder son MK Azhagiri.

(News Agency)