NEW DELHI: The President of India announced on Friday the much-anticipated portfolios of the Council of ministers in the second term of Narendra Modi government. Amit Shah, the man behind the spectacular victory of the BJP, will be the Union Home Minister in the new government. Shah succeeds Rajnath Singh, who has been given charge of Defence ministry.
The Defence Minister in the previous tenure Nirmala Sitharaman will now succeed Arun Jaitley as the Finance Minister in the new government. Sitharaman will also be the Union Minister of Corporate Affairs. Smriti Irani, who was hailed as the giant killer after she defeated Congress President Rahul Gandhi in his family bastion of Amethi, has been given charge of Women and Child Development ministry. She will also hold her previous portfolio of Textiles Ministry.
Former Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is the new Union External Affairs Minister replacing Sushma Swaraj who did not find a place in the cabinet this time. Ravi Shankar Prasad has once again been given the charge of ministries of Law and Information Technology.
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal is the new Human Resource Development Minister while Prakash Javadekar has been given the charge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Environment. Former BJP President Nitin Gadkari will once again be the Minister of Road Transport and Highways.
Rajya Sabha MP Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will be the Union Minority Affairs Minister for the second term. Kiren Rijiju has been appointed as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports and Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda is the Union Minister of Tribal Affairs. Piyush Goyal has been appointed the Minister of Railways for the second term too. Begusarai MP Giriraj Singh, who is known for his controversial remarks, has been appointed the Union Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan has been appointed as Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution while Harsimrat Kaur Badal has been appointed as the Minister of Food Processing Industries. Former Karnataka Chief Minister and four-time MP DV Sadananda Gowda appointed as the Minister of Chemical and Fertilisers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath for a second term in the presence of 8,000 guests including world leaders, dignitaries, politicians, celebrities and industrialists on Thursday, exactly a week after he led the BJP to a spectacular victory in the national election. Over 50 ministers joined him in the swearing-in held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The BJP-led NDA returned to power in the Lok Sabha elections with a massive 352 seats out of which 303 were won by BJP alone.
