JOIN USPM Modi trims CCEA, strengthens Cabinet panel on political affairs
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reconstituted the Cabinet committees by inducting Smriti Irani, Sarbananda Sonowal and Giriraj Singh in the crucial Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), but curiously excluded the ministers of petroleum and chemical and fertilisers from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
The CCPA has also grown in numerical strength as it is now a 13-member panel against the 10 members earlier and has no place for representatives from the BJP's alliance partners. The first CCPA of the Modi 2.0 had Ramvilas Paswan (LJP), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Akali Dal), and Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) as members. With Akali Dal and Shiv Sena quiting the NDA and Paswan passing away in October, the CCPA became an all-BJP affair.
Besides Irani, Sonowal and Giriraj Singh, Environment and Labour Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya are new entrants to the CCPA.
The prime minister has chosen to trim the CCEA from being an 11-member committee to a nine-member panel after the ouster of Chemicals & Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the Union Cabinet. Dharmendra Pradhan, the previous Petroleum Minister, has been retained in the CCEA despite a change of portfolio to Education and Skill Development.
The new Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, the new Railways, Communications and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and the new Chemical and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya too did not find a place in the CCEA.
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs too has seen an expansion with the entry of Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda, Social Justice Minister Virendra Kumar, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, and I&B Minister Anurag Thakur.
There are in all eight Cabinet committees – Appointments, Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Security, Investment & Growth, and Employment & Skill Development.
Home Minister Amit Shah is a member of each of the eight Cabinet committees, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal are on most of the panels.
The new members of the Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth are Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Rane, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Vaishnaw.
The Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development has Vaishnaw and Bhupender Yadav as new entrants.