India’s premier-elect Narendra Modi plans to slash 26 government positions and name himself as defence minister under a cabinet revamp set to be unveiled later today, reports said.

Modi’s cabinet will number 45 including him, down from 71 in outgoing prime  minister Manmohan Singh’s scandal-tainted Congress-led coalition  administration, the Press Trust of Indian news agency and NDTV channel reported.

Modi, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the first majority in 30 years  earlier this month, was due to be sworn in Monday at a mega-ceremony to be  attended by India’s neighbours, including Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

“Team Modi” will have 23 full-rank cabinet ministers, down from Singh’s 28,  while the number of junior ministers known as ministers of state will be  reduced to 22 from 43 in Singh’s government, the reports said.

NDTV, the CNN-IBN news channel and the Hindustan Times newspaper said Modi  would make himself defence minister, while the BJP’s most senior woman leader  Sushma Swaraj was widely tipped to be foreign minister.

Long-time Modi ally Arun Jaitley was seen as frontrunner for the vital  finance portfolio as Indians look to the BJP to live up to promises to boost  growth.

Early Monday, Modi confirmed rumours that he planned to slash the size of  the cabinet in keeping with his campaign promises of “less government, more  governance”.

Some government departments would be “transformed into Organic Ministries  for quicker pace of work & better coordination between departments,” he tweeted.

“This is a step towards Smart Governance and will give us added strength to  fulfil the aspirations of the people,” he added.

BJP president Rajnath Singh was widely linked to the home ministry job.

AFP