Cabinet reshuffle: Piyush Goyal gets Railway Ministry, Nirmala Sitharaman Defence

Union Minister Piyush Goyal has been given the charge of Railway Ministry, post the mega Cabinet rejig on Sunday morning.

This comes after Suresh Prabhu formally bade adieu to the 'rail family' on Twitter, earlier in the day. He has now been assigned the portfolio of the Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Goyal has also been declared as the Minister of Coal. He has been responsible in bringing about a turnaround in power production and delivered on the government's plan to electrify villages.

Nirmala Sitharaman has been assigned the charge of the Defence Ministry, becoming only the second woman to hold the post since late Indira Gandhi.

Sitharaman had travelled to China for a BRICS meeting, in the middle of a lengthy standoff at the border over Doklam.

The post of the defence minister fell vacant after Manohar Parrikar joined Goa state politics to become the chief minister of the state.

Following this, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took over, but only recently, he had hinted that he would not remain the defence minister for long.

Dharmendra Pradhan has been promoted to the Cabinet rank of Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Pradhan is known to have spearheaded one of Prime Minister Modi's main schemes - the "Give it Up" plan for people to forego subsidised cooking gas or LPG voluntarily.

The Cabinet reshuffle saw the promotion of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, as well, apart from the above-mentioned three to the rank of Cabinet ministers.

Naqvi has been now made the Minister of Minority Affairs.

Beside managing to maintain ties with the Opposition parties, Naqvi has done wonders for the Union Government as the spokesperson in the Parliament and outside.

Other ministers who are handed over bigger responsibilities and who, probably, lost their credentials are:

-Arun Jaitley will keep Finance Portfolio and Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

-Nitin Gadkari gets the additional charge of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development Ganga Rejuvenation.

-Shiv Pratap Shukla - promoted as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance

-Ashwini Kumar Choubey - promoted as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

-Virendra Kumar - - promoted as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs

-Anant Kumar Hegde - the Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

-Raj Kumar Singh - the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power and the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

-Hardeep Puri - the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

-Gajendra Singh Shekhawat - the Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare

-Satya Pal Singh - the Minister of State in the Ministry of Women Resource Development and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources, Rural Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

-Alphons Kannanthanam - the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Tourism and the Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

-Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar also gets Ministry of Mines

While Uma Bharati

, who was earlier the Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, has now been made the Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

-Also, Vijay Goel, earlier the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, has now been made the Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and

Minister of State in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

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