Ending hours of speculation since the new ministry was sworn in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday sprang a surprise and made Nirmala Sitharaman the new Finance Minister while BJP chief Amit Shah will be the new Home Minister.
The portfolios of new council of ministers announced by a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said, Rajnath Singh, the Home Minister in the outgoing regime, will be now the new Defence Minister. Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, will be the new Women and Child Development Minister and she will also retain Textiles Minister she held in the outgoing government.
Former diplomat S Jaishankar will be the new External Affairs Minister, the Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said here.
Ministers such as Ram Vilas Paswan (of LJP) and Harsimrat Kaur Badal of (Akali Dal) have retained their respective portfolios of Food and Food Processing Industry respectively.
