NEW DELHI: After morning intrigue, defence minister Rajnath Singh, who was made a member of two key cabinet committees including security, will also chair the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs and be a part of the all-important panel on political affairs, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Singh’s name was conspicuously missing from the key committees when the names were announced earlier on Thursday.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs takes all important political decisions. Singh was made a member of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the Cabinet Committee on Security earlier. He is now a part of six key panels.
On Wednesday, Singh was also made a member of two new panels set up by the government — the Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth and the Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development. Singh headed the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs in the last government. The panel takes all decisions pertaining to Parliament matters.
The newly-constituted Cabinet committee on political affairs comprises, besides Singh, senior NDA members such as Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsh Vardhan, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and allies Ram Vilas Paswan, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Arvind Sawant. Other members of the parliamentary affairs panel are Shah, Sitharaman, Tomar, Prasad, Paswan, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Joshi.
Late entry
In the list announced earlier on Thursday, Singh’s name did not figure in the Cabinet committees for political & parliamentary affairs.