Now, Smriti Irani dropped from cabinet panel on parliamentary affairs

In yet another snub to Smriti Irani, the Textile Minister has been dropped as a member of the new Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) announced on Saturday.

A fresh list issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said that Irani's successor as HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has been accommodated in her place.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who was lately given Independent charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, will be a special invitee as well as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs S.S. Ahluwalia and Minister of State for Law P.P. Chaudhary.

In the cabinet reshuffle announced on July 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved out Irani from the high-profile HRD Ministry to Textiles.

Najma Heptulla, the Minority Affairs Minister who had resigned from the cabinet earlier this week, automatically ceases to be a member.

Javadekar was earlier a special invitee to the committee.

In the reconstituted panel, new Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad replaced his predecessor D.V. Sadananda Gowda.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who has been divested of his Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs portfolio, too has been dropped as a special invitee, being replaced by Ahluwalia.

The committee, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, has 11 members, including three special invitees.

Other members are Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ram Vilas Paswan and Ananth Kumar, who is also the new Parliamentary Affairs minister replacing Naidu.

--IANS

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