What are Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s portfolios? Key takeaways from Cabinet berths allocation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third government on Monday prioritised continuity over coalition dharma as it allocated crucial Cabinet portfolios to prominent ministers of the previous government, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, S Jaishankar and Nirmala Sitharaman. The BJP, however, appeared to have adjusted to the new reality as it accorded greater representation to its allies in the council of ministers.

Here are key takeaways from Cabinet portfolio allocation:

The composition of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) remains unchanged in the new NDA government with Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar retaining their portfolios of Defence, Home, Finance and External Affairs.

Several new faces were also inducted, including BJP leaders JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar. JP Nadda will handle the Health portfolio; Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been appointed as the Minister for Agriculture. Khattar has been appointed Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Minister of Power.

The portfolios of ministers Mansukh Mandaviya, Pralhad Joshi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Kiren Rijiju have been changed. Mandaviya has been assigned to the Ministry of Labour and Employment along with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Pralhad Joshi is now the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Minister of New and Renewable Energy. Scindia has been given the charge of the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been allocated the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism. Kiren Rijiju is the new Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Minority Affairs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will oversee the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space. He is also in-charge of portfolios not allocated to any minister.

Nitin Gadkari has retained the 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 Vaishnaw continues to be Minister of Railways and Electronics and Information Technology and has a new portfolio of Information and Broadcasting and Electronics.

Piyush Goyal continues to be the Commerce and Industry minister, Dharmendra Pradhan remains to be Union Minister for Education and Hardeep Singh Puri has retained the Petroleum and Natural Gas portfolio.

Telugu Desam Party’s Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan have been inducted as Cabinet ministers with the Civil Aviation and Food Processing Industries portfolios respectively.

Shiv Sena’s Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao has been made Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ayush and Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy, a former chief minister, has been entrusted with the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Steel.

Hindustani Awam Morcha leader Jitan Ram has been allocated Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Janata Dal (United) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh) has been allocated the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Jayant Chaudhary has been given the independent charge of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

TDP’s Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar has been appointed Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications and Ram Nath Thakur from Janata Dal (United) Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Among the first-time MPs, BJP’s Suresh Gopi is MoS (Petroleum and Natural Gas) and MoS (Tourism) and Ravneet Singh Bittu MoS (Food Processing Industries) and MoS (Railways).

Omar Abdullah takes jibe at BJP

Meanwhile, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah claimed on Monday that NDA partners didn’t get key portfolios.

“For all the talk about the NDA partners pressing for their fair share in the Modi 3.0 ministry, they obviously don’t have much sway in the corridors of power,” Abdullah said in a post on X.

He said the allies got leftovers because the BJP didn’t leave any meaningful portfolios for them. He claimed the post of Lok Sabha Speaker will also remain with the BJP.