NEW DELHI: Union Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia on Thursday assumed the additional charge of the Steel Ministry. Scindia is currently in charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry.
The 51-year-old MP, who represents Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha, is the third steel minister in the current Modi government.
Before taking his seat, he took off his footwear and placed an idol of Lord Ganesha on the table of his office in Udyog Bhawan here.
He took the charge in the presence of Steel Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh and other senior ministry officials.
He succeeds Ram Chandra Prasad Singh who resigned from the post on Wednesday, a day before the completion of his Rajya Sabha term.
Singh, a former bureaucrat and Rajya Sabha Member, last year on July 8, had replaced Dharmendra Pradhan, who was allotted the ministry of education along with the ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship in a Cabinet reshuffle.
On the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday directed that Minister of Civil Aviation Scindia be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Steel in addition to his existing portfolio, according to an official statement.