New cabinet portfolios: Smriti Irani loses HRD ministry, moved to textiles
New Delhi: In a significant development, controversial HRD Minister Smriti Irani has been moved to the Textiles Ministry. Prakash Javadekar has been appointed the new HRD minister.
Sadananda Gowda has been moved from the Law Ministry, which will now be under Ravi Shankar Prasad. Instead, Gowda has been moved to the Statistics Ministry.
Venkaiah Naidu has been given charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, which was earlier held by Arun Jaitley.
The Sports Ministry, which had fallen vacant after Sarbananda Sonowal was appointed the Assam Chief Minister, has now been given to Vijay Goel.
Jayant Sinha has become the MoS Civil Aviation. He was earlier MoS Finance. Mahesh Sharma has retained charge of the Culture Ministry.
Newly inducted minister SS Ahluwalia has been given charge of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry, as well as of the Parliamentary Affairs department.
Subhas Bhambre has been appointed the Minister of State for Defence.
Ramdas Athawale of the RPI (A) has become the new social justice and empowerment minister, while MJ Akbar will be the Minister of State for External Affairs.
Also, Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi has been allocated the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, while Hansraj Gangaram has been appointed MoS Home Affairs.
Faggan Singh Kulaste, who was inducted as a new minister on Tuesday, has become the Minister for Health and Family Welfare.
Newly inducted Anil Dave has been named Environment Minister with Independent Charge. Narendra Singh Tomar is now in charge of Rural Development.
Earlier, after the much-hyped cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday that saw 19 new ministers being inducted into his cabinet, the Prime Minister held consultations with Amit Shah in the evening before allocation of portfolios.
The reshuffle was preceded by multiple meetings between the two leaders spanning 45 days, including a four-hour discussion last week.
The allocation of portfolios bears utmost importance with the state elections looming next year.
Modi expanded his Cabinet earlier in the day, bringing in 17 new faces and two old hands -- Vijay Goel and Faggan Kulaste -- while elevating Prakash Javdekar to the rank of a Cabinet minister.
Modi said this would strengthen his Cabinet's ability to deliver on promises made in this year's budget.
The Cabinet is now 80-member strong, up from 45 when Modi came to power two years ago.
The oath-taking ceremony which took place in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, began with Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javdekar who was elevated to Cabinet rank. The new Ministers of State were sworn in after him.
Five ministers have already resigned to pave way for the new faces. They are Nihalchand, Ram Shankar Katheria, Sanwar Lal Jat, Manuskhbhai D Vasva and M K Kundariya.
The second expansion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in little more than two years since he took over in May 2014 saw several Dalit and OBC leaders given ministerial positions. Political analysts say this was done with an eye on the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand next year and Gujarat later.
