Narendra Modi has retained all four of his top cabinet ministers with the same portfolios. While Amit Shah retains Home, Rajnath Singh gets back Defense, Nirmala Sitharaman Finance, and S Jaishankar Foreign Affairs.
Nirmala Sitharaman will additionally hold the post of Minister of Corporate Affairs. Nitin Gadkari has also been retained as Minister of Transport & Highways.
Of the five Cabinet berths allocated to NDA allies, TDP’s Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has been made Minister of Aviation. JD(S) leader and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy will be Minister for Heavy Industries.
Ashwini Vaishnaw is retaining Railways and will also be minister of Information and Broadcasting. Jyotiraditya Scindia will be Minister of Telecom and Department of North East. Former BJP president JP Nadda will be the new Health minister.
The hours leading up to the announcement of portfolios remained dramatic for the NDA. BJP’s first and only MP from Kerala, Suresh Gopi, created a stir by saying that he was sure that he would be relieved of the MoS post as he wanted to complete his film commitments. When this led to speculation that he was resigning from the post, he did a U-turn, claiming that his statement was misconstrued. Suresh Gopi will now be Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Tourism.
The Shiv Sena’s Chief Whip Shrirang Barne told media that they had expected a cabinet berth and expressed their displeasure with being handed only one MoS Independent Charge post.
Cabinet ministers:
Rajnath Singh (BJP): Ministry of Defence
Amit Shah (BJP): Ministry of Home Affairs; and
Ministry of Cooperation
Nitin Gadkari (BJP): Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
JP Nadda (BJP): Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; and
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Shivraj Singh Chauhan (BJP): Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
And Ministry of Rural Development
Nirmala Sitharaman (BJP:) Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs
S Jaishankar (BJP): Ministry of External affairs
Manohar Lal Khattar (BJP): Ministry of Power and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
HD Kumaraswamy (JDS): Ministry of Heavy Industries and Steel
Piyush Goyal (BJP): Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP): Ministry of Education
Jitan Ram Manjhi (Hindustani Awam Morcha): Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Rajiv Ranjan Singh (JDU): Ministry of Panchayati Raj; Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying
Sarbananda Sonowal (BJP): Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
Virendra Kumar (BJP): Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu (TDP): Ministry of Civil Aviation
Pralhad Joshi (BJP): Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Jual Oram (BJP): Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Giriraj Singh (BJP): Ministry of Textile
Ashwini Vaishnaw (BJP): Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ; Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Jyotiraditya Scindia (BJP): Ministry of Communications and Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region
Bhupender Yadav (BJP): Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (BJP): Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism
Annpurna Devi (BJP): Ministry of Women and Child Development
Kiren Rijiju (BJP): Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Minority Affairs
Hardeep Singh Puri (BJP): Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
Mansukh Mandaviya (BJP): Ministry of Labour and Employment and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
G Kishan Reddy (BJP): Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Mines
Chirag Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party - Ram Vilas): Ministry of Food Processing Industries
CR Patil (BJP): Ministry of Jal Shakti