Nirmala Sitharaman is new Finance Minister, Amit Shah gets Home portfolio
Full list of portfolios in the new Narendra Modi cabinet
Image: Reuters, Shutterstock
Sworn in late evening on Thursday, the new Narendra Modi cabinet has 58 ministers including Modi, and while many of the faces were returning from their previous tenure, a couple of surprises ​were announced. The ministers' portfolios were announced on Friday afternoon.
For the first time, BJP President Amit Shah, a newly minted Member of Parliament, made cabinet rank. He has been given the Home ministry, previously held by party veteran Rajnath Singh, who has been moved to Defence.
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Nirmala Sitharaman, who was Defence Minister in the earlier regime, has now been named India's first full-time woman Finance Minster, and will also manage the Corporate Affairs ministry. Nitin Gadkari retains the Road Transport and Highways portfolio, and has fresh charge of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
A surprise pick was Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, former foreign secretary and seasoned bureaucrat, who has been named Minister of External Affairs. He takes the portfolio over from Sushma Swaraj, who has been dropped in this year’s cabinet, a decision that’s been met with disappointment over the Internet. Swaraj has been known to be accessible on Twitter, and has addressed various problem cases reported to her on the social media platform.
Smriti Irani, who beat Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a shock victory in his long-held constituency of Amethi, continues as Minister of Textiles, but now also has the charge of the Women and Child Development portfolio.
Here’s the full list of the cabinet:
