All eyes were fixed Thursday on the fate of Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku after Prime Minister Naoto Kan hinted that his right-hand man might have to leave the Cabinet to break an impasse with the opposition camp.
Kan faces a dilemma. If he replaces Sengoku and transport minister Sumio Mabuchi in a Cabinet reshuffle, it will create the impression he is bending to the opposition because of the nonbinding censure motions the two were slapped with in the Upper House in November. If he doesn't, the opposition might delay the fiscal 2011 budget by boycotting deliberations when the Diet opens this month.
On a TV Asahi program late Wednesday, Kan said he plans to reshuffle the Cabinet before the Diet opens for business.