Cabinet ministers were allotted portfolios a day after the NDA formed the Central Government on Sunday. A meeting was held today at Prime Minister Modi’s residence in Delhi to discuss division of ministries with Union ministers.
Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh retained their ministries for a third term. Amit Shah holds the Home Affairs portfolio, while Rajnath Singh heads the Defense Ministry. JP Nadda has been appointed as the new Health Minister replacing Mansukh Mandaviya.
Mansukh Mandaviya was given portfolios of labour, youth affairs and sports; Virendra Kumar retains social justice ministry
Nirmala Sitharaman will also retain the Finance Ministry for a third term. Nitin Gadkari and S. Jaishankar have also retained their ministries; the first is Minister of Transport and the second is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Notably, Ashwani Vaishnaw retains the railways and Meity portfolios and at the same time takes charge of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Kiren Rijiju has been assigned the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. While Chirag Paswan will now head the Ministry of Food Processing Industries that previously belonged to Rijiju.
Jyotiraditya Scindia has been appointed as the head of the Ministry of Telecommunication. He previously held the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
HD Kumaraswamy has been handed over to the Ministry of Steel and Heavy Industries.
Piyush Goyal has been appointed as the director of the Ministry of Textiles. Goyal is also an MP from Mumbai North constituency.
ML Khattar, former Haryana Chief Minister, has been appointed in-charge of two ministries in the Narendra Modi-led cabinet – the Ministries of Power, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Ministry of Rural Development. Hardeep Singh Puri retained the Ministry of Petroleum.
Ministers of State have also been assigned portfolios today. Bandi Sanjay was given the Startup portfolio while Jayant chaudhary was given the Skill Development portfolio. Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi is the government minister for petroleum and tourism, while George Kurian is the government minister for minority affairs and animal husbandry.