Irani shifted from HRD to Textiles, Jaitley sheds I&B

While Naidu will retain his existing Urban Development and Housing portfolio, he will be replaced as Parliamentary Affairs Minister by Ananth Kumar, who remains Chemical and Fertiliser Minister.

The changes in Modi’s cabinet also include the introduction of 19 new ministers, several from lower castes, to help his party win crucial state elections scheduled for next year.

The shifting of Irani, whose two-year tenure at the HRD ministry was marked with controversies over dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide in Hyderabad and the JNU row, triggered speculation over whether it was a tactical move to give a less important portfolio to her or to keep her free to be the face of BJP campaign in UP Assembly polls due in 2017.

Other portfolio allocations will see Sadananda Gowda moved to Statistics and Programme Implementation from Law and Justice.

The role of the RSS in getting Irani removed divested of one of the most sought after portfolios cannot be ruled out as Prime Minister Modi reportedly restructured his Coucil of Ministers after serious deliberations with BJP chief Amit Shah, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Ranjanth Singh among others.

Steel and mines minister Narendra Tomar has been rewarded with the rural development ministry, the main driver of Mr Modi’s social agenda.

These ministers are apart from those who tendered their resignation yesterday, following the party diktat.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President M. Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the newly inducted Ministers after they were sworn in at a ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on July 5, 2016. Ravi Shankar Prasad given Law and Justice Department.

Irani has replaced incumbent Santosh Gangwar, who will be now be Minister of State for Finance.

Ajay Tamta, Anil Madhav Dave, Anupriya Patel, CR Chaudhary, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Subhash Bhamre, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Jasvantsinh Bhabhor, Krishna Raj, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Mansukh L Mandaviya, MJ Akbar, PP Chaudhary, Purshottam Rupala, Rajen Gohain, SS Ahluwalia, Ramesh Jigajinagi, Ramdas Athawale and Vijay Goel.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu given charge of I&B Ministry as he himself good orator and has well understanding on media functioning.

Five junior ministers holding the portfolios of agriculture, water resources, river development, tribal affairs and human resource development resigned to make room for the new ministers.