New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi after expanding his council of minsiters also reshuffled his cabinet bringing in some unguessable changes, biggest being Smriti Irani's transfer to Textile ministry from the high profile Human Resource Development.
The announcement of rejigged portfolios sent flutter down in political circles.
After 19 new Ministers (17 new faces and two old hands) took oath as Ministers of State, the Council of Ministers now has 77 members. The previous strength of the government was 63.
While political equations definitely played a role in preparing the list, Modi has taken into consideration performance and moved ministers around in accordance with competence and talent to portfolios where they can give their best.
Here is the list of top gainers and losers in the latest cabinet reshuffle:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/53066551.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppsthere is the list of top gainers and losers of Modi's latest cabinet reshuffle.
Gainers
Prakash Javadekar : Javadekar, who was earlier promoted to Cabinet rank, was given the HRD Ministry. He had been the Minister of State (Independent charge) for Environment and Forests.
Manoj Sinha: Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha will hold the Communications portfolio too as Minister of State (Independent Charge).
Anil Madhav Dave: Dave, river conservationist and a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, replaced Javadekar as the environment minister
Ananth Kumar: Ananath Kumar replaced Venkaiah Naidu as parliamentary affairs minister, additionally he already has the charge of chemical and fertilisers.
Anupriya Patel: 36 year old Patel would be the youngest minister in Modi cabinet, she has been given health portfolio as MoS.
Piyush Goel: Goel, is believed to have been rewarded for his stellar work as power minister, he has been given an additional charge of coals and mines
Losers
Smriti Irani: Irani, who regularly hogged headlines for her controversial statements, has been made Textiles Minister, replacing incumbent Santosh Gangwar who will be now the Minister of State for Finance.
Jayant Sinha: Jayant Sinha, who was junior minister in the finance ministry, now becomes Minister of State for Civil Aviation.
Sadananda Gowda: Gowda has been shifted from Law ministry to less prominent statistics and programme implementation department, ostensibly due to non-performance. He was Modi's first railway minister before being replaced by Suresh Prabhu.
These ministers are apart from those who tendered their resignation yesterday,following the party diktat. They are Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Nihal Chand Meghwal, MoS HRD Ram Shankar Katheria, MoS Water Resources Sanwar Lal Jat, MoS Tribal Affairs Manuskhbhai D. Vasva and MoS Agriculture M.K. Kundariya.
Swapping roles
Venkaihah Naidu: Naidu, the erstwhile parlimantary affairs minister, has been shifted to the crucial Information and Broadcasting ministry which was earlier under Arun Jaitley. Naidu is already seeing Urban Development Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation department.
Ravi Shankar Prasad : R.Prasad has been moved out of the Communications portfolio as he has been handed over the responsibility of the Law and Justice ministry, alongside the ministries of Electronics & IT. Prasad was previously law minister until the last reshuffle in 2015.
Survivors
Minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises minister Kalraj Mishra were said to be the survivors in the reshffle as they were not relived of their portfolio despite crossing the 75 year mark as set by the party high command.
