Modi 3.0 starts with a continuity note: important ministers retain portfolios

With at least a dozen of the leading Union Cabinet ministers retaining the portfolios they held in the previous government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has conveyed a message of continuity in governance. This is despite the induction of five members from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners in the Union Cabinet.

The members of the Cabinet Committee for Security (CCS) remain unchanged. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar retained their portfolios of Defense, Home Affairs and Cooperation, Finance and Corporate Affairs, and External Affairs respectively. Nitin Gadkari will continue to manage the Road Transport and Highways portfolio.

Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, Sarabananda Sonowal, Hardeep Puri and Bhupender Yadav retained at least the key portfolios they had handled in the previous government. The Prime Minister stripped them of their additional portfolios to accommodate newer entrants and allies. For example, Goyal retained the Trade and Industry portfolio, but Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution were taken away. Vaishnaw retained Railways and Information Technology, but lost Telecom. However, he was also given the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In the previous government, the I&B ministry was on the side of Anurag Thakur, who was dropped in Modi 3.0 despite winning in the recent elections. The communications portfolio that Vaishnaw managed has now gone to Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was Civil Aviation Minister in the previous government. The Ministries of Energy and New and Renewable Energy, among others, were also separated.

Rashtrapati Bhavan announced the portfolios on Monday evening, almost 24 hours after the 72-member Council of Ministers took the oath of office and a few hours after the first meeting of the Union Cabinet, which approved government assistance for the construction of 30 million houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Earlier in the day, in his first decision after taking charge for the third time, the Prime Minister signed a file transferring the 17th tranche of the Prime Minister’s Kisan Samman Nidhi Fund, worth nearly ~20,000 crore, to about 93 million farmers.

The significant change in the cabinet was the return of JP Nadda, who was BJP president, to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a portfolio he handled in the Modi 1.0 government. The Prime Minister also entrusted him with the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. Mansukh Mandaviya had handled the two portfolios in the previous government and will handle Labor and Employment, Youth Affairs and Sports. The change at the Ministry of Sports comes just before the Olympic Games in July.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was credited with turning around his state’s agricultural output during his stint as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, was given the charge of Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare portfolios. Manohar Lal Khattar, the former Haryana CM, was asked to look after the ministries of power, housing and urban affairs.

Among the allies, the Prime Minister entrusted HD Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal (Secular) with the ministries of Heavy Industries and Steel. Rajeev Ranjan Singh of Janata Dal (United) will look after Panchayati Raj, fisheries, animal husbandry and dairy farming. Another ally of the BJP in Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi, will manage the portfolio of micro, small and medium enterprises. K Rammohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party is the new Civil Aviation Minister, and Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is the Minister of Food Processing Industries.

G Kishan Reddy, BJP’s Telangana leader, who looked after the Ministries of Culture, Tourism and Development of the North-East Region (DONER) in the previous government, will now look after the ministries of Coal and Mines. CR Patil, the BJP’s state unit chief in Gujarat, known for his organizational skills, will manage the Jal Shakti ministry.

Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav has been appointed Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Ayush and MoS for Health and Family Welfare. Jayant Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal is the MoS (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the MoS of the Ministry of Education.

Earlier in the day, media reports suggested that Union Minister and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi wanted to quit the Council of Ministers. He later called the reports “grossly incorrect.” Media platforms had reported that Gopi, the BJP’s first-ever Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, was upset over being made MoS. In other expressions of discontent, Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne expressed disappointment over the party not getting a place in the Cabinet. However, party MP Shrikant Shinde, son of party chief and Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, clarified that the party supported the government unconditionally. However, the Sena MP’s comments came a day after the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said the party would wait for a cabinet seat instead of accepting a state minister position offered by the BJP.

First print: June 11, 2024 | 12:35 pm IST