The Narendra Modi government on Thursday constituted eight Cabinet committees with Union Home Minister Amit Shah included in all of them.
A close confidante of Modi, Shah’s inclusion should also settle the debate, if any, on who is the second-in-command in the current BJP-led NDA dispensation.
Rajnath Singh, who headed Home Ministry in the first tenure of PM Modi, is conspicuously absent from the crucial Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, which decides on policy. Singh’s exclusion is significant because the Union Minister was sworn in right after the prime minister.
Singh is included in the Cabinet Committees on Economic Affairs and Security
Among the panels announced on Thursday, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) will be headed by the prime minister, with Shah as the other member.
Shah will head the Cabinet Committee on Accommodation. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Railway & Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal are its members.
Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh and Housing and Urban Affairs and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri are special invitees of the Accommodation Committee.
The key Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) will be headed by the PM and will have Rajnath Singh, Shah, Gadkari, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Communication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal as its members.
The others in the CCEA include Minister of External Affairs of India S Jaishankar, Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, which recommends dates for holding parliament sessions, will be headed by Shah and will have Sitharaman, Consumer Affairs Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Tomar, Prasad, Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi as its members.
Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal and V Muraleedharan are special invitees.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, which helps the government take important policy decisions, will be headed by the prime minister.
Shah, Gadkari, Sitharaman, Goyal, Paswan, Tomar, Prasad, Harsimrar Kaur, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Heavy Industries Minister Arvind Sawant and Joshi will be its members.
The Cabinet committees are constituted or reconstituted when a new government takes over or the cabinet undergoes a reshuffle.
Earlier on Wednesday, the government had constituted committees on investment and growth to spur the economic growth, and on employment and skill development to deal with the issues of unemployment.
It was perhaps for the first time that the Cabinet committees on the two issues have been set up.
The key committee on security was also set up Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will the head of the Committee, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be its members.
The panel looks after the issues related to national security and foreign affairs.
Broadly, Shah is present in all eight key cabinet committees in PM Modi’s second term, while Rajnath is included in six, Sitharaman in seven and Goyal in five.
-with inputs from agencies
First Published: Jun 6, 2019 11:07 AM IST
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