Modi 3.0 cabinet unchanged at the top with Big 4 retaining portfolios

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari retained their key portfolios in the third term of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the list of portfolios released on Monday.

The list was released after the first meeting of the 30-strong cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Modi, a day after the swearing-in ceremony.

Among other ministers in the second PM Modi government who retained their posts were Hardeep Singh Puri (Petroleum and Natural Gas), Piyush Goyal (Commerce and Industry), Dharmendra Pradhan (Education), Sarbananda Sonowal (Ports, Shipping and Waterways), Bhupender Yadav (Environment, Forest, and Climate Change), and Virendra Kumar (Social Justice and Empowerment).

Ashwani Vaishnaw has retained the Railways and Electronics and Information Technology Ministries, besides being given the charge of Information and Broadcasting.

BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, who returns to the government, got Health and Family Welfare, a post he held in the first PM Modi government. He also got the additional charge of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

Jual Oram, who was Minister for Tribal Affairs in the first PM Modi government, has got back charge of the ministry.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in his first stint in the Union cabinet, will be the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, while former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also became a Union Minister for the first time, is the new Housing and Urban Affairs and Power Minister.

BJP's Gujarat unit chief C.R. Patil has been given the crucial Jal Shakti Ministry in his first stint in the Union cabinet.

Previous government ministers who have been allocated different portfolios are Pralhad Joshi (Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution as well as New and Renewable Energy), Giriraj Singh (Textiles), Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (Communications, and Development of North Eastern Region), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Tourism and Culture), Annapurna Devi (Women and Child Development), Kiren Rijiju (Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs), Mansukh Mandaviya (Labour and Employment, Sports), and G. Kishan Reddy (Coal and Mines).

From the allies, TDP's Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu got Civil Aviation, JD-S' H.D. Kumaraswamy got Heavy Industry and Steel, HAM-S's Jitan Ram Manjhi is the new MSME Minister, JD-U's Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh got Panchayati Raj, and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying portfolios, while Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas chief Chirag Paswan has been made the Minister for Food Processing Industries.

Among Ministers of State (Independent Charge), Rao Inderjit Singh has been allotted Statistics and Programme Implementation, and Planning and will be Minister of State for Culture; Jitendra Singh will handle Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and be the Minister of State in the PMO; Arjun Ram Meghwal got Law and Justice again; Shiv Sena's Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav will handle AYUSH and be Minister of State in the Health Ministry; while RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary has been given Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and will also be the Minister of State for Education.

The key Ministers of State include Jitin Prasada (Commerce and Industry and Electronics and IT), TDP's Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, who is the richest MP (Rural Development and Communication), BJP's first-ever Kerala MP Suresh Gopi (Petroleum and Natural Gas and Tourism), Ravneet Singh 'Bittu' (Food Processing Industries and Railways), and Raksha Khadse (Youth Affairs and Sports).

Indo-Asian News Service