Rathore in charge of I&B, Smriti out

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Monday evening effected a mini-but-significant reshuffle in the Union council of ministers as Ms Smriti Irani was divested of the key information and broadcasting portfolio and her deputy Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was given independent charge of the ministry.

The move ended her short 10-month controversial stint in the ministry, that saw several controversies, right from the fake news row to her faceoff with the Prasar Bharati chief over autonomy issues.

In another important change, railway and coal minister Piyush Goyal, one of Mr Modi’s favourite ministers, was “temporarily” given additional charge of the finance ministry, which has been headless for over a month as its chief Arun Jaitley has been undergoing dialysis for a kidney ailment, till Mr Jaitley recovers. Incidentally, earlier in the day, Mr Jaitley had successfully undergone a kidney transplant surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

In the four years of the NDA government, this is the second time that Ms Irani has been relieved of a major portfolio. She was earlier human resources development minister but was relieved from that ministry and given charge of the textiles ministry. Last year, she was given full-fledged charge of the information and broadcasting ministry after her predecessor M. Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the country’s vice-president.

After the prestigious portfolio has been taken away from her, she now only remains Union textiles minister.

Ms Irani’s tenure as I&B minister was mired in controversies, be it her faceoff with Prasar Bharati chief A. Surya Prakash over the body’s functional autonomy or the controversy which had generated after the ministry earlier this year proposed that accreditation of journalists would be withdrawn if their reportage was found to be in the realm of fake news. After much brouhaha, the ministry had to withdraw the order with the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

However, clear signs that she may have lost favour with 7 Lok Kalyan Marg came when the official delegation to the ongoing Cannes film festival which Ms Irani was due to lead, was ultimately headed by Central Board for Film Certification chief Prasoon Joshi.

Her exit from the information and broadcasting ministry has ushered in a moment of sunshine for Mr Rathore, a former Army officer and Olympian, who has remained in the shadows as a junior minister in I&B though last year he had something to cheer for when the Prime Minister made him minister for sports and youth affairs.

A Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqué said Mr Rathore has been assigned independent charge as minister of state in the ministry of information and broadcasting.

The communiqué said that during the indisposition of Arun Jaitley, the portfolio of finance and ministry of corporate affairs have been “temporarily”  been assigned to Mr Goyal.

In other smaller changes in the government, Mr S.S. Ahluwalia was relieved of his charge of minister of state in the drinking water and sanitation ministry and given a new portfolio of electronics and information technology.

Mr Alphons Kannanthanam was relieved as minister of state in the ministry of electronics and information technology, but continues as MoS for tourism.