Cabinet reshuffle: new ministers take charge of their portfolios
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New Delhi: The newly appointed ministers of the second term of PM Modi's government, took charge of their portfolios on Thursday, a day after the reshuffle of the union cabinet.
All new ministers are slated to meet BJP president JP Nadda later in the day at the party headquarters.
West Bengal BJP leader Nisith Pramanik, who is serving his first term as a Member of Parliament after winning from the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat in 2019, took charge as new Minister of State for Home Affairs along with his senior Cabinet colleague Nityanand Rai, the old face holding the MoS Home post since May 2019.
Before taking charge of MoS, Pramanik took to Twitter to express his gratitude towards God, saying "by the blessings of almighty going to take the charge in Ministry of Home affairs as Minister of States...".
Anurag Thakur has been allocated the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports portfolios while Mansukh Mandviya was given Ministry of Health and Chemicals & Fertilizers, replacing Dr Harsh Vardhan. Kiren Rijiju will now be the new Law Minister.
Raj Kumar Singh assumed charge as Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Power and New and Renewable Energy. Singh has already been steering the ministries in independent charge as a minister of state. In the latest cabinet reshuffle, he has been promoted to the rank of a cabinet minister. Soon after taking charge in the new role, Singh said that he will try to live up to expectations that the prime minister has reposed in him.
Meenakshi Lekhi is among the new inductees of the new PM Modi team to take charge as Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs.
"I am grateful to the Prime Minister, Amit Bhai (Amit Shah) and Nadda ji (JP Nadda) for giving importance to meritocracy and hard work, in allocating the positions, putting the entire nation, not just on the map, but also in the Mantralaya. His vision to give opportunities to women stands out" she said.
Meanwhile, the total number of Ministers in the Modi government has increased to 77 with the induction of 36 new ministers on Wednesday. Of these fifteen cabinet ministers, including some new faces, were sworn in at the swearing-in ceremony held in the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.