It was a day of high drama when Minister of State Jayant Sinha exited, and his two successors, Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Arjun Ram Meghwal, joined the Finance Ministry on Wednesday.
Mr. Gangwar was prevailed upon to join on Wednesday itself, despite his plea to take up the new assignment later as he had a trip to Bareilly lined up. He was shifted from the Ministry of Textiles (where he held independent charge) to the Finance Ministry (as Minister of State).
It was left to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to receive the two new junior ministers rather than Mr. Sinha, who was camping in Mr. Jaitley’s office, and skipped the handing over of his erstwhile portfolio to his two successors.
Top government sources told The Hindu that Mr. Sinha was given an early intimation of the decision.
Still Mr. Sinha was visibly upset and turned away many visitors.
“His departure is unanticipated…he had lined up meetings for the next 10 days,” said a colleague of his.
The Hindu has learnt that the key reason for moving Mr. Sinha is the appointment of his wife, Punita Kumar Sinha, a global investor, as an independent director on the board of Infosys in January this year. “It sets the wrong precedent”, an official source said.
