Arun Shourie, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, SS Ahluwalia among hopefuls for Narendra Modi's expanded Cabinet

Following his swearing in, Narendra Modi, India's new PM has already got to work as Thursday's cabinet meet revealed a list of ten priorities that the PMO was focusing on and also, how each ministry was told to formulate an agenda for the next 100 days.

Read: Narendra Modi's Cabinet reveals top priorities, each ministry to prepare a 100 day agenda

However Modi's cabinet which is noticeably smaller as compared to the previous one in the UPA-II led government might be seeing an expansion in the coming month. 

Read: Narendra Modi government may add upto 30 more ministers during cabinet expansion

This expansion of the ministry which is allegedly to take place between the presidential address and the presentation of the General Budget. 

The expansion which will apparently lead to the induction of 20-30 additional ministers will take place after Modi assesses the performance of the MPs during a week long session to be held in early June where the newly elected Lok Sabha Member will take an oath and a new Speaker is to be elected.  

This expansion of the cabinet spells hope for those who have been excluded from Modi's cabinet:

Rajiv Pratap Rudy who represents the Saran constituency from Bihar in the Lok Sabha  was a prominent miss in Modi's cabinet. He served as the Civil Aviation minister in Vajpayee's cabinet and should probably receive a post once the cabinet is expanded.

SS Ahluwalia who won on the BJP's ticket from Darjeeling in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections has held the position of Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha till 2012.

Arun Shourie who has held a number of prestigious positions was assumed to eventually receive an economic position but was left out. Speculations point to him being given a position of advisor to the Government and yet he may be still included as a minister in the expanded cabinet.

Murli Manohar Joshi who was Union Human Resources Development Minister in the last NDA regime was left out also, however this was allegedly due to Modi's 'under 75' rule. A prominent strategist for the BJP, was amidst those whose names were being considered for the cabinet till fairly recently. 

Subramaniam Swamy who has served as a member Planning Commission of India and Cabinet Minister of India was one of the apparent fore runners for the Finance Portfolio and was yet left out of Modi's eventual cabinet. 

These BJP leaders are not the sole one hankering for a seat. There was a statement released by Anant Geete, the sole representative from the Shiv Sena that there would be more members of their party included in Modi's cabinet, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance which managed to completely overtake Maharashtra saw the two parties clash over a number of issues, including the BJP apparently trying to dominate over the Shiv Sena. Also speculations are abound about the inclusion of a MP form Rajasthan, a state where the BJP won every single seat.

The most awaited announcement of course is about the Defence portfolio that has currently handed to Arun Jaitley as an additional charge. Jaitley, who also holds the post of Finance Minister expected a full time Defence Minister to be named in a couple of weeks. He was also quoted as saying that till the announcement he would spend a 'reasonable amount of time' at the Defence Ministry. 

Even post its expansion, the Modi cabinet should hopefully remain as focused a group as it is currently. Also with the BJP having the numbers it needs in the Lok Sabha, it should be faster compaed to the previous UPA-II led government when it comes to passing legislations and decide what bills from the previous Lok Sabha's regime should be carried forward or subsequently dropped. Time will tell how effective the new government-that will collectively merge around the PMO- will turn out to be.