Modi Inducts 21 New Ministers, Reshuffles Portfolios

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday expanded his council of ministers, inducting 21 new faces, including four of cabinet rank, in a bid to consolidate the gains of the Lok Sabha elections by giving representation to various regions and communities, while also reshuffling some key portfolios.

Manohar Parrikar is the new defence minister, Suresh Prabhu has been given charge of railways, Jagat Prakash Nadda is the new health and family welfare minister, while Birender Singh succeeds the late Gopinath Munde as the rural development and panchayati raj minister.

The 45-member Modi ministry Sunday added to it four cabinet ministers, three ministers of state with independent charge, and 14 ministers of state (MoS).

Portfolios of the new ministers were announced late Sunday night ahead of the first meeting of the expanded ministry slated for Monday. There was also a reshuffle of portfolios.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who relinquishes his additional charge of defence to Parrikar, has been now given information and broadcasting, currently held by Parakash Javadekar as a minister of state (independent charge).

D.V. Sadananda Gowda was moved from railways to law and justice, held by Ravi Shankar Prasad, who now just has the portfolio of communications and information technology. Harsh Vardhan has been shifted from health to science and technology, currently held by minister of state (independent charge) Jitendra Singh.

The much-anticipated first ministry expansion was marred with ally Shiv Sena calling off participation in the government at the last minute, exacerbating their already strained ties.

Prabhu, who was a minister in the first national Democratic Alliance government, was sworn in after he quit the Shiv Sena and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

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