The first meeting of the reconstituted Group of Ministers on the Media took place on Thursday: the three new entrants are Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and the MoS with independent charge for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari.
They replace Ambika Soni who has opted to work in the party, and Pawan Bansal, who has moved from Parliamentary Affairs to the Railways in the recent reshuffle of the Union Cabinet.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who earlier held the Law and Justice portfolio, continues to be a member of the GoM on Media. The GoM will continue to be chaired by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Minister of State in the PMO V. Narayanasamy are the other members of the GoM.
The Group of Ministers on Media was set up in May last year to counter the strident Opposition attack on the government in the wake of the 2G spectrum allocation issue.
