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 posts in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third government as the list of portfolios was 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 of the second PM Modi government who retained their posts were Hardeep Puri (Petroleum and Natural Gas), Ashwani Vaishnaw (Railways and Electronics and Information Technology), Piyush Goyal (Commerce and Industry), Dharmendra Pradhan (Education), and Sarbananda Sonowal (Ports, Shipping and Waterways). Vaishnaw has also been given charge of Information and Broadcasting.
BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, who returns to the government, got Health and Family Welfare which he had held charge of in the first PM Modi government. He also got additional charge of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in his first stint in the Union Cabinet, will be the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is also becoming a Union Minister for the first time, is the new Housing and Urban Affairs and Power Minister.
From the allies, TDP’s Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu got Civil Aviation, Janata Dal-Secular’s H. D. Kumaraswamy Heavy Industry and Steel, HAM-S’s Jitan Ram Manjhi is the new MSME Industry Minister, Janata Dal-United’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, got the portfolios of Panchayati Raj, and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying, and Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas chief Chirag Paswan is the Minister for Food Processing Industries.
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