Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 31
Marking a major change in the top four ministries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today allocated the second most important job in the government, that of Union Home Minister, to his closest confidant of several years —BJP chief Amit Shah.
Former Home Minister Rajnath Singh was assigned the Defence portfolio, while Nirmala Sitharaman, a protégé of former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, was allocated the job he held in the previous Modi government.
The posts of Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister and Minister of State have gone to leaders considered close to Jaitley — Sitharaman and Anurag Thakur, who have a daunting task ahead given the impending economic slowdown and challenges like job creation, mounting bad loans and farmers’ distress.
Sitharaman also created history of sorts by taking over as the first full-time woman Finance Minister, after the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She had a similar distinction in the last government as the first full-time woman Defence Minister.
As expected, former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar was assigned the External Affairs Ministry. He replaces Sushma Swaraj, who, like Jaitley, chose not to contest the elections due to health reasons.
There were some observations regarding the “lateral demotion” for Rajnath Singh. Though BJP leaders claimed the Defence sector was “lagging and being the former Home Minister, no one could understand India’s strategic needs better than Singh”, the fact is that the move has made Shah the virtual number two, a position Singh held in the first term.
As someone who has worked in a similar constellation with Modi while he was the Gujarat Chief Minister, Shah is no newcomer to administrative jobs. Only this time around he has a bigger responsibility pertaining to security of the entire country.
Considered to be the mind behind the BJP’s strategic political promises like scrapping Articles 370 and 35A, implementation of the equally controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill and NRC and, of course, Ram Temple at Ayodhya, all eyes will be on how Shah handles the party’s long pending poll planks. The good part is that he knows the mind of the PM well and the two will be on the same page on most issues.
To look after the ailing agriculture sector, the PM has chosen Narendra Singh Tomar. He replaces Radha Mohan Singh in the key Agriculture Ministry, that will be the focus of Prime Minister Modi’s plans in the coming days.
Top leaders like Piyush Goyal, Nitin Gadkari, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dharmendra Pradhan have been assigned their previous ministries.
Giant slayer Smriti Zubin Irani was rewarded with two portfolios, while DV Sadananda Gowda was allocated the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, held by the late Ananth Kumar in the last government.
Another important ministry, the HRD, has a new chief — former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. He replaces Prakash Javadekar, who this time has been assigned I&B and Environment ministries.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2Kgg1AI
via Today’s News Headlines
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