Nirmala Sitharaman becomes finance minister in Modi 3.0; BJP retains Rly, highway, ports

Nirmala Sitharaman will continue as the finance minister in Modi 3.0, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained the key infrastructure ministries such as railways, highways, and ports and shipping. There is no change in the top four ministries and Rajnath Singh continues as defence minister, Amit Shah (ministry of home affairs), and S Jaishankar continues as the external affairs minister. The aviation ministry and MSME ministry have gone to the NDA alliance partners TDP and Hindustani Awan Morcha, respectively.

Among the other BJP heavyweights, Shivraj Singh Chauhan has been made the minister of agriculture and minister of rural development. Jagat Prakash Nadda has been given the charge of the ministry of health and ministry of chemicals and fertiliser, a portfolio earlier held by BJP leader Mansukh Mandaviya, who has now been made the minister of labour and minister of youth and sports.

It is clear from the portfolio allocation that infrastructure creation continues to be the top priority for the government as the BJP has not only retained the ministries but also the ministers.

Going forward, Nitin Gadkari will continue to be at the helm of the road transport and highways ministry, while Ashwani Vaishnav will be in the motorman’s seat at Rail Bhavan. Meanwhile, Sarbananda Sonowal will continue as cabinet minister for ports, shipping, and waterways, a portfolio he held in the previous term as well. Vaishnaw has also been given the charge as minister of information and broadcasting and minister of electronics and information technology. BJPs Annapurna Devi is the new minister for women and child development.

Former Haryana CM Manohar Lal, a close confidante of PM Modi and a new face in the cabinet, has been made the minister of housing and urban affairs and the minister of power.

Piysh Goyal will continue to lead the ministry of commerce and industry, and Dharmendra Pradhan has been made the minister of education yet again. Pralhad joshi has been made the minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and minister of new and renewable energy. Kiren Rijiju has been given the charge of ministry of parliamentary affairs and minority affairs.

Giriraj Singh, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, and Bhupender Yadav have been given the charge of the ministry of textiles, ministry of environment, and ministry of communications, respectively, as cabinet ministers. Meanwhile, former Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has now been made the minister of culture and tourism. C R Patil is the new Jal Shakti minister. G Kishan Reddy is the new minister of coal and mines.

NDA alliance partner TDP has got the aviation ministry, while the MSME ministry has gone to Hindustani Awam Morcha of Bihar. Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu of TDP is the new civil aviation minister while Jitan Ram Majhi, former Bihar CM, is the new MSME minister. LJP (RV) leader Chirag Paswan is the new minister for food processing industries, a post his father Ramvilas Paswan also held. JD (U) leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh is the new minister for panchayati raj and fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying. JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy is the new heavy industries minister.