Cabinet Reshuffle: Ministers with Additional Charges May See their Burden Reduce

NEW DELHI:
Sunday’s reshuffle is likely to take load off four ministers who are holding additional charges after vacancies arose in the cabinet between March and July this year due to various reasons. In the rejig, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may induct new faces lessening the burden on these ministers.
In March, Manohar Parrikar resigned as defence minister to concentrate on the Goa Assembly polls. He later became the chief minister of the state. Arun Jaitley, who was holding the portfolio of Finance and Corporate Affairs, was given the additional charge of Defence.
In May, Anil Dave, the then Environment and Forest minister, passed away. Science and Technology minister Harsh Vardhan was given the additional charge of the Environment Ministry.
In July, M Venkaiah Naidu resigned from the union cabinet after being picked up as the NDA nominee for the post of vice president of India. His Housing and Urban Affairs portfolio went to Narendra Singh Tomar as additional charge. Tomar is the minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation.
Naidu’s Information and Broadcasting portfolio went to Smriti Irani, the minister for Textiles. Besides, Ravi Shankar Prasad holds two portfolios- Law and Justice and Information-Technology.