11, 2025. 14. The conference runs through Feb. Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Union ministers Hardeep Puri and BL Verma Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s oil minister, during the India Energy Week conference in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, Feb.
11, 2025. 14. 14. The buzz is further driven by the proposed two-day ‘Chintan Shivir’ on Sept 23–24, where all cabinet ministers will present vision documents and undergo strict performance evaluations before PM.
The conference runs through Feb. Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg via Getty Images The question is doing the rounds amid speculation of a reshuffle in Narendra Modi cabinet in the coming days, following prolonged performance reviews and strategic organisational audits by central govt. Union ministers Hardeep Puri and BL Verma Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s oil minister, during the India Energy Week conference in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, Feb. Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg via Getty Images Union ministers Hardeep Puri and BL Verma Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s oil minister, during the India Energy Week conference in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, Feb.
A career diplomat, Puri was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 2018 in a bypoll which was necessitated after then defence minister Manohar Parrikar resigned to serve as Goa CM. Puri was appointed as a Union minister in Modi 1.0 govt in 2017 and was required to be an MP. He was re-elected to Rajya Sabha in 2020 while continuing as a Union minister in Modi 2.0 govt. BL Verma, a Lodh OBC, was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2020. A year later on July 7, 2021, he was elevated as Union minister of state in Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region and in Ministry of Cooperation.
This, experts said, would represent a significant change in political positioning. Puri is among the few BJP MPs to have completed two terms in Rajya Sabha. BJP sources say Verma enjoys support of the party brass and has been one of the key contenders for a top organisational post also. There are broad indications that he might be asked to take a plunge in the poll cauldron of Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls early next year. Instead of remaining a Delhi-based minister and Rajya Sabha member, Verma could become part of BJP’s effort to reinforce its organisational and social coalition on the ground ahead of the Assembly election.