Sitharaman new Defence Minister, Piyush gets Railways

Nirmala Sitharaman was on Sunday named India's Defence Minister in a reshuffle-cum-expansion of his ministry carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that also saw Piyush Goyal take charge of Indian Railways.

Of the other two new Cabinet ministers, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan got additional charge of Skill Development Entrepreneurship while Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi retained the Minority Affairs Ministry.

The three new Ministers of State with independent charge are R.K. Singh (Power, New and Renewable Energy), Hardeep Puri (Housing and Urban Affairs) and K.J. Alphons (Tourism, Electronics and IT).

The six new Ministers of State are Shiv Pratap Shukla (Finance), Ashwini Choubey (Health and Family Welfare), Virendra Kumar (Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs), Anantkumar Hegde (Skill Development and Entrepreneurship), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) and Satya Pal Singh (Human Resource Development, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation).

Suresh Prabhu, who lost his Railway portfolio, has been shifted within the Cabinet to the Commerce and Industry Ministry, earlier held by Sitharaman.

Nitin Gadkari, who was holding Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, will also head the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry.

Cabinet minister Uma Bharti, who lost the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, is now left with Drinking Water and Sanitation.

--IANS

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