IRANI IS OUT OF I&B , GOYAL TO MIND FINANCE FOR JAITLEY

Rathore gets independent charge of I&B; Ahluwalia gets electronics

In an abrupt but minor Union cabinet rejig, Smriti Irani has been moved out of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which was recently involved in an embarrassing episode over the National Film Awards involving President Kovind. The President had reportedly written to the Prime Minister to protest at her ham-handed handling of the event.

Smriti was also embroiled in a controversy over her diktat on fake news, which the Prime Minister had to roll back after media outcry. Smriti will now be taking care of only the Textile ministry. She had earlier been shunted out of the HRD ministry in 2016.

Smriti had cancelled her trip to Cannes where Indian film industry has a strong presence. This was the first indication that something was amiss. She had recently at a lecture describe broadcast news landscape as a spectator sport in which rush for grabbing eyeballs has reduced everything to ‘headlines competing with hashtags’.

GOYAL TO MAN FINANCE

The other big takeaway of the reshuffle is that Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has been given the additional charge of Union Finance Ministry until Arun Jaitley has fully recovered from his kidney transplant. (The surgery was successfully carried out on Monday and Jaitley’s condition is believed to be stable.)

The senior BJP leader, suffering from a kidney ailment, has been undergoing dialysis for the last one month. With Jaitley indisposed, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had rather uncharitably remarked in a tweet that the Finance Ministry has shut down. The mantle of I & B ministry has fallen on Rajyavardhan Rathore; he will have independent charge. Rathore is not new to this portfolio and was originally sworn in 2014 as the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting. He will continue to hold the sports portfolio. BJP National Vice President SS Ahluwalia has been made the new Minister of State for Electronics. KJ Alphons, who until now held the charge, will only handle the Tourism Ministry. Ahluwalia, in turn, has been relieved of the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation.