Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is back in the key cabinet committees. Over 12 hours after the list of cabinet committees—which did not figure him in several panels—was put out, the Narendra Modi government revised the list. Singh, the former BJP chief, was added to four cabinet committees he was left out of.
Singh will now be part of the cabinet committees on political affairs and parliamentary affairs. Under the revised list, Singh’s name figured at the top of the panel list of parliamentary affairs, suggesting he will head it now. Earlier, Home Minister Amit Shah was heading it.
Leaving Singh out of these ministerial panels had sent out a signal that he was being sidelined at the cost of Shah. The Modi government’s decision to have Singh back on the panels meant that they have brought the issue under control. In the cabinet order of precedence, Rajnath Singh's name comes at number two, while Shah is at three. But the first few days of the Modi government showed Shah as the most powerful minister in the Cabinet.
Singh has also been added to two new committees, which have been formed during Modi’s second tenure. These are the cabinet committee on investment and growth and cabinet committee on employment and skill development.
In a related development, the Modi government has reconstituted the NITI Aayog, its planning think tank. The old team has been retained, barring economist Bibek Debroy as the member.
Here also, Rajnath Singh has been including as the ex-officio member of the body. In the last NITI Aayog (when the body was reconstituted on June 7, 2018), the defence minister was not part of it.
Among the other ex-officio members of the body are Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. The special invitees are Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Social Justice Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for Planning.
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The NITI Aayog is headed by the prime minister. Modi has retained Dr. Rajiv Kumar as the vice chairperson of the body, while V.K. Saraswat, Professor Ramesh Chand and Dr. V.K. Paul have also been retained from the previous team. CEO Amitabh Kant has tenure till the end of this month.
The first meeting of the reconstituted NITI Aayog will take place on June 15 where all the chief ministers will also participate.
