New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in his historic third term will retain the known faces in the big four ministries – Amit Shah will retain the Home portfolio, Rajnath Singh shall hold Defence, Foreign Ministry will be retained by S Jaishankar and the Finance Ministry by Nirmala Sitharaman. The Prime Minister will handle the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space.
Many of the ministers have been retained with their last jobs in the interest of continuity as well. Among them is Nitin Gadkari, who will retain the Road Transport and Highways ministry with two juniors under him — Ajay Tamta and Harsh Malhotra. The 67-year-old has been the longest-serving minister in the department and has been credited with the building of construction of more than 54,858 km of national highways over the last 10 years.
Piyush Goyal will retain his commerce portfolio. JP Nadda, the health minister in PM Modi’s first cabinet, has been brought back with the same portfolio. He has also been given additional charge of the Chemicals and Fertilisers department.
The plum portfolios of I&B and railways will be handled by Ashwini Vaishnaw. The Civil Aviation Ministry has changed hands from Jyotiraditya Scindia to TDP’s Ram Mohan Naidu, the youngest minister in the cabinet. Mr Scindia has been put in charge of the Telecom ministry.
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