Smriti Irani, DV Sadananda Gowda and Rajiv Pratap Rudy no longer part of cabinet committees

NEW DELHI: After reshuffling his Cabinet of ministers, Narendra Modi has now given a new look to the key decision making groups in his government.

The notable exceptions from the cabinet committees are Smriti Irani and DV Sadananda Gowda.

After moving out of the human resource development ministry in last week’s reshuffle, Irani has now also lost her place as a special invitee to the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs in a rejig carried out on Thursday.

Gowda was a part of the committees of parliamentary affairs and economic affairs when he was the law minister. He is on none now, after being shifted to the ministry of skill development.

The biggest gainer in the rejig is the new parliamentary affairs minister, Ananth Kumar, who is now on four cabinet committees.

Prakash Javadekar, who replaced Irani at the HRD ministry, has been made a regular member on the committee on parliamentary affairs. In his earlier capacity as the minister of state for environment, he was a special invitee, like Irani.

Spot depends on portfolio
A place on cabinet committees is generally on virtue of the portfolio the minister holds.

The minister of textiles, Irani’s current portfolio, wasn’t part of any cabinet committee before, as in the case of the minister of skill development.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar has been made a member of the committees on political affairs, economic affairs and accommodation. Kumar in his capacity as the chemicals and fertilisers minister, a portfolio he retained, was already a member of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.

New Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has entered the committee on parliamentary affairs at the expense of predecessor Gowda. This is a return for Prasad to the committee, from where he was removed when Gowda got the portfolio after the previous cabinet reshuffle in 2014.

A surprise addition to special invitee list to the parliamentary affairs committee is PP Chaudhary, the new minister of state at the law ministry and Department of Electronics and IT.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who lost the portfolio of minister of state for parliamentary affairs in the recent reshuffle and is now only in charge of skill development, has made way for his successor SS Ahulwalia as a special invitee to the committee.

Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh has been made a special invitee to the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation.

Among the BJP allies, Shiv Sena member and Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete continues to be part of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, while Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal is on the panels on economic affairs and political affairs.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan continues to be a member of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has only two members: PM Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The previous rejig of the cabinet committees was carried out in December 2014, following a Cabinet reshuffle.

Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda was then drafted into the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs though his predecessor, Harsh Vardhan, had not been part of that committee.