JP Nadda, Manohar Parrikar gainers in cabinet reshuffle

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi has added heft to the cabinet committees after reshuffling his ministerial pack last month, inducting BJP heavyweight and health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda into the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) among other appointments.

The PM brought Nadda into the CCPA when he reconstituted various cabinet committees last week, underlining the political importance of the minister whose predecessor Harsh Vardhan was not part of the first panel set up by the government in June.

Nadda is considered a key strategist and is believed to be close to both BJP president Amit Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. His inclusion in the CCPA is expected to further strengthen the synergy between the party and the government.

Other key additions include railways minister Suresh Prabhu to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) while defence minister Manohar Parrikar is now a member of the CCPA, CCEA as well as the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). Parikkar has been placed lower in the pecking order than Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari in the cabinet committees.

DV Sadananda Gowda, Prabhu’s predecessor in rail ministry, was also a member of the CCEA and continues in the panel in his new capacity as the law minister. But Prabhu is expected to add muscle to the CCEA with his expertise in economic matters, officials said.

The CCEA met on Wednesday for the first time since it was reconstituted and notified by the cabinet secretariat on December 3. With the addition of Nadda and Parikkar, the CCPA now has 13 members, the same as the reconstituted CCEA. However, the CCEA also has three special invitees.