Shah, Rajnath, Sitharaman, Jaishankar keep ministries | Nadda returns to Health, a ministry he held in Modi 1.0 | Allies get Steel, Aviation, Food Processing,.
637 Elevation: Among the high-profile promotees is Mansukh Mandaviya (R), who has been given the charge of Health and Chemicals & Fertilisers. PTI
Neerja Chowdhury
Political Commentator
IN 2014, when PM Narendra Modi formed his first Cabinet, it carried a touch of Arun Jaitley. It included many Jaitley ‘boys and girls’ like Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan and Prakash Javadekar. Jaitley himself got Finance and was given the additional charge of Defence.
In 2021, the Cabinet reshuffle bears the stamp of Amit Shah, be it the elevation of Anurag Thakur, G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala or the induction of Bhupendra Yadav or Meenakshi Lekhi and several others. This is not surprising, for the Prime Minister relies on Shah’s counsel on most matters.