Smriti Irani moved to Textiles, Javadekar new HRD minister

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) In a major rejig of the Narendra Modi government following the expansion on Tuesday, Smriti Irani was replaced as Human Resource Minister by Prakash Javadekar, while Ravi Shankar Prasad was divested of Communications but given Law and Venkaiah Naidu additional charge of the I&B Ministry.

Irani has been made Textiles Minister, replacing incumbent Santosh Gangwar who will be now the Minister of State for Finance. Former bureaucrat Arjun Meghwal, who was inducted in Tuesday’s expansion, has also been made Minister of State in the crucial ministry, headed by Arun Jaitley.

Jaitley, who also held additional charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, divests it to Naidu. While Naidu will retain his existing Urban Development and Housing portfolio, he will be replaced as Parliamentary Affairs Minister by Ananth Kumar, who remains Chemical and Fertiliser Minister.

Jayant Sinha, who was junior minister in the finance ministry, now becomes Minister of State for Civil Aviation, while Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha will hold the Communications portfolio too as Minister of State (Independent Charge).