Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan now has the task of managing the two key ministries – agriculture and rural development – that directly impact a vast population of India and are a major focus area for reforms. JP Nadda, whose term as BJP national president ends this month, is back in the central government with the same portfolio of health and family welfare ministry, which he held in the first cabinet led by Narendra Modi. Besides Chouhan, another former CM made an entry into the cabinet with senior BJP leader from Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, being allocated housing and urban affairs, as well as the power ministries.
As for the big four ministries – Home with Amit Shah, Defence with Rajnath Singh, Finance with Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs with S Jaishankar – the prime minister has chosen to stay with the incumbents, apparently signalling that nothing much has changed in the Modi 3.0 government.
Among the NDA allies in the Union Cabinet are two former CMs — JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, who got the plum portfolios of steel and heavy industries, and HAM(S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has the MSME ministry. Representing Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is party loyalist Rajiv Ranjan Singh, better known as Lalan Singh, with panchayati raj as well as fisheries, animal husbandry and dairy. Younger leaders like Chirag Paswan of the LJP (Ram Vilas) bagged food processing, while the TDP’s K Ram Mohan Naidu will now lead civil aviation.
President Droupadi Murmu directed the allocation of portfolios to 72 members of the Union Council of Ministers, including the PM, as advised by Modi, as per an official statement.
Entry of new faces from BJP, big guns retain key ministries
There are also some new faces from the BJP that have replaced old ones in important ministries — CR Paatil will replace Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as the jal shakti minister. Shekhawat, meanwhile, will become the new culture and tourism minister. Annpurna Devi will take over from senior party leader Smriti Irani as the new women and child development minister.
Like Nadda, Jual Oram from Odisha is also making a comeback to the Union Cabinet and will be tribal affairs minister. Credited with boosting the highway network across the country, Nitin Gadkari returns to the road transport and highways ministry. Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was in charge of the crucial railways and electronics and IT ministries, has not only retained these portfolios but was also given the important information and broadcasting ministry.
Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal will also continue to be in charge of the education, and commerce and industry ministries, respectively. Hardeep Singh Puri has retained the petroleum and natural gas ministry but has shed the housing and urban affairs ministry, which has now gone to Khattar.
Kiren Rijiju was moved from earth sciences to parliamentary affairs, while Arjun Ram Meghwal will continue as law minister and another former CM, Sarbananda Sonowal, has retained the shipping portfolio. Bhupender Yadav has also retained the environment ministry along with Virendra Kumar for social justice and empowerment.
Pralhad Joshi, who earlier held coal and mines as well as parliamentary affairs, has been made in charge of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and new and renewable energy ministries. G Kishan Reddy, meanwhile, has been handed over the coal and mines ministry.
Giriraj Singh was moved from the rural development and panchayati raj ministries to textiles. Former aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scinda is now in charge of communications, and development of northeastern region ministries.
Earlier, Modi held the first cabinet meeting after his government was sworn in on Sunday (June 9) and told his ministerial colleagues that most of them will continue to handle their existing responsibilities. The allocation of portfolios underlined his faith in his colleagues, especially those handling the frontline ministries, which shaped and drove the government’s policies and programmes.
Let’s take a closer look…
Signalling continuity, Modi has retained Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar in charge of the four high-profile ministries – Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs – in his new government. The four ministers in charge of these portfolios make up the crucial cabinet committee on security headed by the PM.
Most of the key cabinet ministers have retained the portfolios they held in the previous BJP dispensation. Leaders such as JP Nadda and Oram made a comeback as ministers.
Rural development, panchayati raj to different ministers
Shivraj Singh Chouhan is making his national debut in politics with the agriculture and rural development portfolios. The four-time CM, popularly known as “mama” (maternal uncle) and “paon-paon wale bhaiya” (foot soldier), won from the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh for an impressive sixth time and with a whopping margin of 8.21 lakh votes. This is, however, the first time he has made an entry into the Union Cabinet.
Ally JD(U) leader Lalan Singh was given panchayati raj, making it the first time that this ministry and the rural development ministry have gone to different ministers in the cabinet. The rural development ministry, which looks after socioeconomic development of rural India, has the key responsibility of implementing flagship schemes like MGNREGA scheme and PM Awas Yojana among others. The panchayati raj ministry, which was created first in 2004, looks after transferring grants to rural local bodies for civic programmes and their functioning.
While different ministers handled the two ministries under the previous UPA governments, since the BJP-led government came to power, the posts were held by the same minister.
The return of Nadda
For JP Nadda, it is a return to the ministry of health and family welfare. He will also be in charge of chemicals and fertilisers. In the Modi 2.0 government, both these ministries were led by Mansukh Mandaviya, who now has the charge of the sports ministry.
Nadda thanked Modi for his induction into the cabinet and said the health ministry will make every effort to ensure better healthcare infrastructure and facilities, ensuring no one is left behind in receiving better treatment. “Grateful to Hon. PM Shri @narendramodi ji for trusting me with the roles of Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers. Modi 3.O is steadfastly committed to the welfare of the people. In line with this, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) will make every effort to ensure better healthcare infrastructure and facilities, ensuring no one is left behind in receiving better treatment. Additionally, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers will contribute to every extent to realizing PM Modi ji’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’,” he wrote on X.
The 63-year old leader is the sole representative from Himachal Pradesh in the BJP-led government. He had earlier served as the union health minister from November 9, 2014 to May 30, 2019. He holds a degree in law, started his political journey with the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS, and went onto become the president of the BJYM, the BJP’s youth wing, in 1991.
Nadda has held different key positions in the BJP, headed its election campaign in a host of states – from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab. He also served as a minister in BJP’s governments in his home state of Himachal Pradesh. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2012 and made a member of the BJP’s parliamentary board in 2014 when Amit Shah took over as the party president.
He took over as the BJP chief at a time when the party was witnessing vigorous challenges from a united opposition in the assembly elections in several states amid signs that it needed to rework its electoral strategy. Despite its overwhelming win in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP suffered several defeats in the assembly polls since 2018, except in Haryana where it formed a government in an alliance with the JJP.
The BJP won new allies and strung up a series of impressive assembly wins on Nadda’s watch and even consolidated its strongholds and expanded its footprints despite some occasional setbacks. But, he would have liked to go out on the high of having achieved yet another impressive electoral win but his party’s victory in the recently concluded elections came with reduced numbers.
Khattar’s new innings
The former Haryana CM is replacing Hardeep Singh Puri as the housing and urban affairs minister in the new cabinet. Puri, however, has retained the petroleum and natural gas ministry.
He contested from Karnal, where he defeated Divyanshu Budhiraja of the Congress by an impressive margin of more than 2.35 lakh votes. He is now set to begin his new innings as an MP and a union minister.
The BJP veteran joined the RSS as a permanent member in 1977 and stayed with it for 17 years before he was made a member of the BJP in 1994. In 2014, he became the MLA for the first time and was tapped to become the CM of Haryana. Ten years later, in March 2024, he was replaced by his confidante Nayab Singh Saini.
The housing and urban affairs ministry is mandated to execute various projects, including PM Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) and the ambitious Central Vista redevelopment plan.
Annpurna Devi succeeds Smriti Irani
Jharkhand BJP leader Annapurna Devi will now be the women and child development minister. With challenges such as raising the legal age of marriage for women, combating malnutrition among women and children, and addressing women’s safety issues, she faces a formidable agenda.
Devi’s political journey began with her election to the Bihar legislative assembly in a 1998 bypoll. She later served as MoS for mines and geology in the RJD government of undivided Bihar. From 2005 to 2014, she was a member of the Jharkhand legislative assembly and became a cabinet minister in the state in 2012, overseeing the ministry of irrigation, women and child welfare, as well as registration.
She joined the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, contesting from Koderma on the party’s ticket, and defeated Babulal Marandi of the JVM (Prajatantrik) by a substantial margin of 4.55 lakh votes. This time, too, she has retained Koderma with a win margin of 3.77 lakh votes.
Devi’s influence extends beyond the mica belt of Koderma, impacting the entire state and establishing her as a key figure in the political landscape. She was once a close aide of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav.
