PM Modi re-constitutes Cabinet committees

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 6

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday constituted several committees of the Cabinet and made Union Home Minister Amit Shah member of all of them.

Having dropped Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from all important panels on appointment and political affairs, the government issued a revised list late in the evening and added his name again to CCPA and two other panels.

The development, which came with the constitution of the ministerial panels, showed the importance of Shah in Modi government 2.0.

Singh was initially kept only in Cabinet Committee on Security and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. But the fact that the government had to reconsider its decision to drop him from CCPA and add him to it within hours, underlines his importance.

In the release issued during the day, he was not there in the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, but the revised list showed that he will be heading it.

Singh, who was home minister in the previous government and member of six committees, is again a member of six  panels, including economic affairs and security.

The Prime Minister also constituted two new committees -- one on investment and growth and the other on employment and skill development, acknowledging the economic problems faced by the country. 

It was perhaps for the first time that such panels have been formed.

Shah -- whose stature in the party and the Government has been growing—figured in all the eight committees, details of which were released by the government on Thursday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamam figured in all but one of them.

The induction of Shah, who is also the BJP president, in the government has led many political observers to believe that he will be the second most powerful person in the new order. 

The new appointment has further cemented his position.

Shah had chaired an informal meeting of several Cabinet ministers, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, besides Sitharaman, on June 4 over crude oil related issues.

The Cabinet ministers representing BJP’s allies, including Ram Vilas Paswan, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Arvind Sawant, are members of a few committees including political affairs, like the last time.