Amit Shah gets Finance Ministry, S Jaishankar new EAM as PM Modi allots portfolios to new ministers: Zee News Report

Narendra Modi was on Thursday sworn in as the Prime Minister for a second term helming a 58-member ministry with BJP chief Amit Shah making his debut at the Centre and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar emerging as a surprise pick while party veteran Sushma Swaraj was among the outgoing ministers who found no place.

Soon after, Prime Minister allotted portfolios to ministers who are likely to take charge of their respective ministries on Friday, Zee News reported. 

Besides 25 Cabinet ministers including Modi, Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal and Jaishankar, nine were sworn in as Minister of State with Independent charge and another 24 as Minister of State.

Here are some ministers and portfolios allotted to them:

Rajnath Singh: Home Affairs

Amit Shah: Finance and Corporate Affairs

Nirmala Sitharaman: Defence Minister

S Jaishankar: External Affairs

Smriti Irani: Women and Child Development

Ram Vilas Paswan: Consumer Affairs

Ramesh Pokriyal 'Nishank': Health and Family Welfare

Ravishankar Prasad: Law & Justice

Narendra Singh Tomar- Parliamentary Affairs, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development

V Sadananda Gowda: Statistics and Program Implementation 

Arjun Munda- MSME

Thawar Chandra Gehlot: Social justice and Empowerment

Earlier outgoing External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, eight-time MP Maneka Gandhi, six-time MP Radhamohan Singh, Mahesh Sharma, Jayant Sinha, Jual Oram, Ram Kripal Yadav, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, all of BJP, and Anupriya Patel (of BJP ally Apna Dal) failed to make the cut despite winning their respective seats. Anantkumar Hegde, a Hindutva leader from Karnataka who is known for his controversial statements, was also dropped.

Suresh Prabhu and J P Nadda(both Rajya Sabha) also did not find a place. Speculation is rife that Nadda, who was made BJP's UP incharge, may succeed Shah.

Arun Jaitley, who held the Finance portfolio, had already opted out of the government for health reasons.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, a former diplomat who lost the elections, managed to retain his berth. Jaishankar and Puri will have to enter Parliament within 6 months and they could take the Rajya Sabha route.