Irani loses HRD, gets Textiles; Javadekar to replace her

After expanding his Council of Ministers on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made some important changes in the portfolios of his top ministers.

Smriti Irani has been moved to the Textiles Ministry from the Human Resources Development Ministry where her tenure was very controversial. Prakash Javadekar, who was elevated to the Cabinet rank in the expansion, replaces her.

Venkaiah Naidu has been divested of his Parliamentary Affairs responsible and given the charge of the Information & Broadcasting Ministry. It was under Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s charge. Anant Kumar is the new Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda has been asked to shift from the Law Ministry to Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has been given the additional charge of Law and Justice Ministry.

M.J. Akbar has been appointed as Minister of State in the External Affairs Ministry.

Jayant Sinha shifted from MoS Finance to MoS Civil Aviation.

MoS Sanjeev Kumar Balyan has gone from the Agriculture Ministry to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.

While Anupriya Patel has been appointed Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Ajay Tamta has been allotted the Textiles Ministry.

Narendra Tomar is the new Rural Development Minister.

Arjun Meghwal is the new MoS Finance.

S.S. Ahluwalia has been allotted Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha will hold the Communications portfolio too as Minister of State (Independent Charge).