Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after setting up two new Cabinet committees — one for economic growth and investment and another for jobs and skills — reconstituted five other panels. These include the Cabinet Committee on Appointments with just him and Home Minister Amit Shah.
The all-important Cabinet Committee on Security remains as before with Mr. Modi heading it, and with Mr. Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as members.
Mr. Shah’s ubiquitous presence in all committees reflects his importance in the new pecking order in the government. Ms. Sitharaman also features in all committees.
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The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs where — apart from heavyweight Ministers from the BJP, like Mr. Shah, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Ms. Sitharaman, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi — NDA allies like Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Badal and Heavy Industries Minister Arvind Sawant also find a place.
Mr. Paswan is the only ally to have been included in the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs along with Mr. Shah, Social Justice Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot, Mr. Tomar, Ms. Sitharaman, Mr. Prasad, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar and Mr. Joshi.
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The all-important Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has been reconstituted with Mr. Modi at the helm, along with Mr. Shah, Mr. Singh, Ms. Sitharaman, Mr. Jaishankar, Mr. Gadkari, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Sadananda Gowda, Mr. Goyal, Mr. Tomar, Mr. Prasad and the only Minister from an ally, Ms. Badal.
The Cabinet Committee on Accommodations, headed by Mr. Shah, will have Ms. Sitharaman, Mr. Gadkari, Mr. Goyal and Urban Development Minister Hardeep Puri and Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh as special invitees.