The composition of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) remains unchanged in the new BJP-led NDA government with Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar retaining their portfolios of Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs.
The four senior BJP leaders held the same portfolios in the previous NDA government.
The portfolios were announced on Monday in a press communique by the President’s Secretariat a day after the swearing-in of the council of ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The portfolios were allocated on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As in the previous NDA government, Home Minister Amit Shah is also Minister of Cooperation and Finance Minister Sitharaman also has Corporate Affairs portfolio.
Apart from portfolios not allocated to any Minister and all important policy issues, PM Modi is also in-charge of Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space.
Other cabinet ministers who have retained their portfolios include Nitin Gadkari who continues to be Road Transport and Highways Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal (Ports, Shipping and Waterways), Bhupendra Yadav (Environment, Forest and Climate Change) and Virendra Kumar (Social Justice and Empowerment)
Ashwini Vaishanw continues to be Minister of Railways and Electronics and Information Technology and has a new portfolio of Information and Broadcasting.
Piyush Goyal retains Commerce and Industry portfolio, Dharmendra Pradhan continues to be Union Minister for Education and Hardeep Singh Puri of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
BJP chief JP Nadda, who was part of PM Modi’s cabinet in 2014, will be the new Health Minister. He also has Chemicals and Fertilizers portfolio.
Telugu Desam Party’s Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu will be the new Civil Aviation Minister, a post previously held by BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia.
The distribution of portfolios was announced a day after the swearing-in of the NDA government. The alliance scored a hat-trick victory in Lok Sabha polls. (ANI)
