Amit Shah gets home, Rajnath defence, Piyush Goyal retains Railways

New Delhi: Amit Shah will be the new home minister, Rajnath Singh the new defence minister and Nirmala Sitharaman the new finance minister, the Rashtrapati Bhavan announced on Friday.

Former foreign secretary turned minister S Jaishankar has got the external affairs ministry while Smriti Irani will be the new women and child development minister along with retaining the Textile Ministry, according to a communique issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Nirmala Sitharaman will be the new finance and corporate affairs minister while Nitin Gadkari will continue to be the minister for road transport and highways. Piyush Goyal has been given the charge of the ministries of railways and commerce while Ravi Shankar Prasad will continue to helm the Ministry of Law, Telecom as well as the IT ministries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, atomic energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated. Modi was sworn in on Thursday as prime minister for a second term, helming a 58-member team of ministers, including him and BJP president Amit Shah who makes his debut in the Central government.

A new Ministry of Jal Shakti has been created and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will be its minister.