New Delhi: With the clock ticking, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday shuffled his council of ministers to get the team ready for the crucial 2019 general election. He promoted and demoted ministers on the basis of performance, threw in a few surprises and sent a signal on the “empowerment of women” by making Nirmala Sitharaman India’s first full-time woman defence minister, a portfolio mainly dominated by men. Indira Gandhi had earlier held the defence portfolio twice, but that was in addition to being Prime Minister.
Of the 13 ministers who took the oath on Sunday, the Prime Minister brought in nine new faces. The JD(U) and the Shiv Sena skipped the swearing-in ceremony while Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK attended it.
As for surprises, the PM inducted two prominent retired bureaucrats, Hardeep Singh Puri and Alphons Kannanthanam, for housing and urban affairs and tourism and information technology respectively. Both have been made ministers of state (independent charge). Neither is a member of Parliament, and must be elected to either of the two Houses within six months.
Two other former bureaucrats were brought in too — former home secretary R.K. Singh and former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh — both of whom are Lok Sabha members. For their performance, Piyush Goyal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Dharmendra Pradhan were elevated.
While Mr Goyal, minister of state (independent charge) for power, was elevated to Cabinet rank and given charge of the crucial railway ministry too, Dharmendra Pradhan was elevated from MoS (independent charge) to Cabinet minister in charge of petroleum.
Mr Pradhan was also given additional charge of the skill development ministry, that was earlier with Rajiv Pratap Rudy, one of the ministers asked to put in his papers 48 hours before the Cabinet reshuffle.
MoS (independent charge) for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was elevated to Cabinet rank.
Rejig a signal to poll-bound Karnataka
As for demotions, the Prime Minister took away the sports ministry from minister of state (independent charge) Vijay Goel and shifted him to parliamentary affairs as an MoS.
Minister of state for information and broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore was shifted to the sports ministry as minister of state (independent charge). Mr Rathore will also continue as MoS at I&B.
There were no changes in the portfolios of the big three — Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh. Mr Jaitley, who was holding additional charge of defence, will continue as finance minister, Ms Swaraj as external affairs minister and Mr Singh as home minister.
Textiles minister Smriti Irani, who was given additional charge of I&B, will retain that portfolio from now as a full-time charge.
After a spate of train accidents, Mr Suresh Prabhu was shifted to commerce and industries, that was held by Ms Sitharaman. After the Rashtrapati Bhavan ceremony got over, Mr Prabhu tweeted that he was stepping down as railway minister. Mr Prabhu had offered to resign after a spate of accidents, but was asked to wait by Mr Modi.
Ms Uma Bharti was divested of the Prime Minister’s pet ministry, Ganga rejuvenation and water resources, and shifted to the ministry for water and sanitation.
