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One-third new faces, more than half of ministers in previous govt dropped: key takeaways

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One-third new faces, more than half of ministers in previous govt dropped: key takeaways

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After the grand swearing-in ceremony yesterday (Thursday May 30) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with 25 ministers of Cabinet rank, nine Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge and 24 others as MoS, among the highlights today was allocation of the key Home portfolio to Amit Shah and External Affairs to former foreign secretary S Jaishankar.

Also noteworthy was retaining the ministries that are central to BJP-RSS politico-cultural programme to persons from the RSS background: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has been given to Prakash Javadekar, who also heads the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Ministry of Human Resource Development to Ramesh Pokhriyal.

While the total of 58 ministers (including the PM) has some prominent new faces, like BJP president Amit Shah and the former diplomat Jaishankar, there are also some significant names missing that were part of the Council of Ministers in Modi’s first term as PM.

Also Read: Amit Shah gets home, Rajnath Singh defence ministry… Know more about Modi cabinet 2019

One-third of the total ministers in the Modi’s 2.0 Cabinet are the first-timers, including BJP president Amit Shah and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1559374284437{border-top-width: 10px !important;border-right-width: 10px !important;border-bottom-width: 10px !important;border-left-width: 10px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-bottom: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #adadad !important;border-radius: 10px !important;}”]

More than half of ministers in previous government dropped, nearly 2/3rd of MoS rank

The previous government had 70 ministers in all and of them more than half have been dropped. Only 33 from the former government have been included this time. Nearly two out of three ministers of MoS rank in the last Union Cabinet have been dropped this time.

Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj are not in this Cabinet. Jaitley had excused himself citing health reasons. Swaraj had opted out of contesting Lok Sabha elections.

Other Cabinet-rank ministers who are missing this time include former ministers of Civil Aviation and Commerce Suresh Prabhu, Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti, and Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi, Anant Geete (Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises), Chaudhary Birender Singh (Steel), JualOram (Tribal Affairs) and Radha Mohan Singh (Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare).

Jagat Prakash Nadda, who was the Health and Family Welfare minister, has also not been included in the new Cabinet.There is speculation that he may be asked to lead the party if incumbent BJP president Amit Shah relinquishes the post.

Among the missing names from ministers below Cabinet rank is Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the former Union Minister of State (with independent charge) of Information and Broadcasting and Sports and Youth Affairs. Also dropped was Manoj Sinha, who had independent charge of Communications and was an MoS in Railways. He had lost to Afzal Ansari of the BSP from Ghazipur, UP.

AlphonsKannanthanam, who had independent charge of Tourism, and Mahesh Sharma, who was MoS (independent charge) for Culture and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, also did not find a place in the new Cabinet.

Of 34 former Ministers of State, 22 have not been brought back. These include Jayant Sinha, Vijay Goel, RajenGohain, Anathkumar Hegde, S S Ahluwalia, P P Chaudhary, Krishna Raj, Satya Pal Singh, and Anupriya Patel of BJP ally Apna Dal.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The most prominent first timer in PM Modi’s cabinet is BJP president Amit Shah. Last evening, he had made calls to leaders who will be ministers in the new government. Interestingly, Shah was third in the pecking order of taking oath. After Modi and Rajnath Singh, but ahead of former party chief Nitin Gadkari.

Also Read: New Education Policy, in first 100 days plan,submitted to HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal

Taking over from Rajnath Singh, who has been given the Defence Ministry, PM Modi’s trusted lieutenant and strategist will head the Ministry of Home Affairs. His style of running the party organisation with an iron hand, while employing guile wherever required, is bound to be evident in the home ministry affairs as well.

It was clear that Shah would be a part of the government when he chose to contest the Lok Sabha election. He and Modi were together in the party’s victory celebrations, travelled together to their respective constituencies of Varanasi and Gandhinagar and together they decided the members for the new government.

Besides, Modi’s trust in Shah is indisputable. At the BJP national executive following the party’s massive victory in 2014, Modi had said, “Amit Shah was the man of the match. Had Shah not been given the responsibility of Uttar Pradesh, the country would not have known about his immense skills. I have personally known Shah for a long time. He will perform to his potential in his new responsibility and I have no doubt about that.”

As the general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Shah delivered a stunning mandate in the form of 73 of the 80 seats in the state in 2014 and was subsequently made the BJP’s top boss.

The BJP repeated its performance in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, winning 311 of the 403 seats. Modi called him ‘the man of the match’ of that election.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Rahul Gandhi warns ED, CBI of strong action whenever government changes

The Congress leader’s statement follows after the Income Tax department’s fresh notices asking the party to pay Rs 1,823.08 crore.

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Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused central agencies of working at the behest of the BJP-led government at the Centre and warned them that strict action will be taken against these institutions when the government changes.

The senior Congress leader asserted that if the institutions had done their jobs properly there would have been no problem. He added that these agencies should think that some day the BJP government will change and after that there will be action. He further said that it is his guarantee that the action will be so strong that no institution will dare to do such things again.

Taking to social media platform X, Rahul Gandhi wrote that when the government changes, action will definitely be taken against those who destroyed the democracy. Mentioning that it is his guarantee, Rahul Gandhi said that such actions will be taken that no one will dare to do all this again.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement follows after the income tax department’s fresh notices asking the party to pay Rs 1,823.08 crore. The party has accused the ruling BJP of indulging in tax terrorism to financially cripple the opposition party ahead of Lok Sabha polls.

While addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters along with Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, party treasurer Ajay Maken alleged that the BJP is in serious violation of income-tax laws. He said the I-T department should raise a demand of Rs 4,617.58 crore from the saffron party for such violations.

Ajay Maken said that the income-tax returns filed by Congress for eight years have been reopened on baseless and manufactured grounds to levy illegal I-T demand orders totalling thousands of crores of rupees. He stated that the timing of the I-T department’s action in February and March, days before and even days after the Lok Sabha election were announced on March 16, speaks for itself about the mala-fide nature of these actions.

Furthermore, the opposition party will hold nationwide protests over the weekend against fresh income tax demand of over Rs 1,800 crore, which it has described as an egregious attack on democracy and imposition of tax terrorism amid the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

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Jammu and Kashmir: 10 killed as taxi rolls into gorge at Ramban, PM Modi announces ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh

Ramban deputy magistrate said that it was pitch dark and raining heavily when the accident occurred near Battery Chashma around 1.15am.

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In an unfortunate incident, ten passengers were killed when a taxi veered off the road amid heavy rain and fell into a gorge in Ramban district on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway early on Friday.

Baseer-ul-haq, Ramban deputy magistrate said that it was pitch dark and raining heavily when the accident occurred near Battery Chashma around 1.15am. He added that while the vehicle, believed to be a Chevrolet Tavera, has not been traced yet, 10 bodies have been recovered from the steep slope from where it went down 500 metres.

Police along with quick reaction teams, the local tehsildar, assistant commissioner, revenue, and other officials were at the spot supervising rescue work. Reports said that two identity cards were recovered from two bodies. 

The bodies were identified as taxi driver Balwan Singh, 47, of Amb Gharota in Jammu district, and Vipin Mukhiya, of Bhairagang in West Champaran district of Bihar. The identified bodies were taken to Ramban district hospital. Police asserted the taxi was on its way to Kashmir from Jammu.

Expressing grief over the accident in Ramban, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF, which would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. Furthermore, the injured would be given Rs 50,000.  PM Narendra Modi also extended condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for a quick recovery of the injured. 

Taking to social media platform X, President Droupadi Murmu said that the news of many people getting killed after a vehicle fell into a ditch in Ramban area on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is very sad. She also offered condolences to the bereaved families.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir police shared on social media platform that a passenger taxi rolled down a deep gorge on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway near Battery Chashma in Ramban area. It added that Police, SDRF and civil QRT Ramban reached on spot, rescue operation is going on.

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Hardeep Singh Puri says Sunita Kejriwal is preparing to hold Delhi CM post like Rabri Devi

The Union Minister was speaking to the media during the inauguration of Delhi BJP’s election office along with leaders including Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva and Bansuri Swaraj.

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Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday compared Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, hinting that she may be gearing up to take on her husband’s post. The Union Minister was speaking to the media during the inauguration of Delhi BJP’s election office.

The BJP leader further took a dig at Delhi Chief Minister for forming an alliance with the most corrupt party against whom they had started an anti-corruption movement with social activist Anna Hazare. The minister made the statement in response to a question regarding Sunita Kejriwal, who earlier today launched a whatsapp campaign advocating for support for her husband, who is in ED custody in connection with the Excise policy case.

In a video Sunita Kejriwal said her husband has challenged the most corrupt and dictatorial forces in the country and asked people to support her husband through their prayers and blessings. She issued 2 WhatsApp numbers 8297324624 and 9700297002 through which people can send their blessings, prayers or any other messages to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and she will communicate those to him.

She said yesterday Kejriwal had presented his side in the court, and the entire country heard it. She requested the people to listen to it if they had not listened till now. She added whatever Kejriwal had said in front of the court required a lot of courage. She said her husband is a true patriot. She requested the people to participate in the Kejriwal ko Aashirwad campaign.

BJP leader Manoj Tiwari also took a dig at Aam Aami Party asking why only Kejriwal’s wife is coming out in his support, and not the people of Delhi. He said the Honorable Justice of High Court said they cannot stop Arvind Kejriwals’ arrest that they are surprised why he hasn’t been arrested yet?

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