Modi 3.0 Cabinet: Senior ministers retain portfolios; Shivraj, Khattar get key ministries

New Delhi: Seeking to send out the perception of continuity from his previous term in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reallocated key ministries to BJP leaders, and did not concede much space to the allies on whose support he will now be relying on to run the government.

The constitution of the cabinet committee on security remains unaltered in Modi 3.0 with PM retaining Rajnath Singh as Defence Minister, Amit Shah as Home and Nirmala Sitaraman as Finance. Diplomat turned politician E Jaishankar will continue in the External Affairs Ministry.

Nitin Gadkari, too, retains the Road Transport Ministry; he will now have two new deputies – Ajay Tamta and Harsh Malhotra.

The other heavyweight entrants in the government have been duly rewarded. Former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan gets both Agriculture and Rural Development, the twin ministries held by Narendra Singh Tomar who was packed off to Bhopal last year as Madhya Pradesh Assembly speaker.

Former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar has also got two departments – Power and Urban Development, the latter being sought by the BJP’s southern ally, the TDP. One of the biggest gainers is Ashwani Vaishnaw, who has retained Railways and MeiTY, while getting the additional charge of Information and Broadcasting. 

JD(S) leader and former Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy is the only ally to have landed a reasonable bargain with two portfolios – Heavy Industries and Steel. JD(U) leader Lala Singh has the Panchayati Raj as well as Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying ministries. TDP leader Rammohan Naidu has been given the Civil Aviation portfolio – vacated by Jyotiraditya Scindia. LJP leader Chirag Paswan will be given the Food Processing Industries portfolio.

Scindia will be the Telecom as well as DoNER minister, while Kiren Rijiju will now be the parliamentary affairs minister, replacing Phalhad Joshi who has been given the food and consumer affairs as well as New and Renewable Energy portfolios.

Rijiju will also be the minority affairs minister. Sarbananda Sonowal retains the Ports, Shipping and Waterways ministry and Virendra Kumar, too, retains the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry.

The WCD portfolio, vacated after former minister Smriti Irani’s loss, will be managed by Annapurna Devi, while Gajendra Sekhawat will be the minister for Culture as well as Tourism, in the latter portfolio, his deputy will be Suresh Gopi. Jual Oram will be tribal affairs minister, while Bhupender Yadav retains Environment, Forest and Climate Change. 

New entrant to the Cabinet, CR Patil, will be the Jal Shakti minister, while Hardeep Singh Puri’s new portfolio is Petroleum and Natural Gas. Mansukh Mandaviya will be the Minister of Labour and Employment as well as Youth Affairs and Sports. G. Kishan Reddy is now the Minister of Coal and of Mines.

Allies who will have the minister of state (MoS) portfolio are Jayant Chaudhary, who will hold the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship as well as Education portfolios with an independent charge. Shiv Sena MP Pratap Jadhav Ganpatrao will be MoS with independent charge in the Ayush as well as Health ministries.

Jitendra Singh as well as Arjun Ram Meghwal continue to carry on with their old portfolios. 

New entrant to the Council of Ministers, Jitin Prasada will hold the MoS position in the commerce as well as MeiTY ministries, while JD(U)’s Ram Nath Thakur will be the MoS in the Ministry of Agriculture. Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel is MoS Health as well as Chemicals and Fertilizers while V Somanna is MoS in the Jal Shakti as well as Railways ministries.

TDP’s Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani is MoS in the Rural Development as well as Communications ministries while Karnataka MP Sobha Karandlaje is MoS in the MSME as well as Labour ministries. George Kurian is MoS in the Minority Affairs as well as Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying ministries.

New entrants Bandi Sanjay Kumar as well as Pabitra Margherita have taken up prominent ministries – Bandi is MoS (Home) while Margherita Minister is MoS (MEA) and Textiles.

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