NDA Cabinet 2.0: In an unexpected move, the newly elected Narendra Modi government on Friday allocated the Union Home Ministry to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah. The development came after several assumptions on which portfolio would be given to Shah, who is making his debut as a Union Cabinet Minister this time. Shah is taking over the ministry from Rajnath Singh, who has been given the Defence Ministry. Shah, a key architect of his party's landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections, is the most notable inclusion in the second Modi government, which was sworn in on Thursday.

A confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for over two and a half decades, Shah was also a trusted minister in the Gujarat government headed by Modi as chief minister between 2001-14. He held portfolios, including home, transport, and law and justice in the state.

"Thankful to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for reposing faith in me. Your leadership and continued support is a great source of inspiration. I assure you that I will put my best efforts to serve our people and country," he tweeted after taking oath.

Shah also made his Lok Sabha debut in 2019 polls, having won with a massive margin of more than five lakh votes from Gandhinagar, a constituency long represented by BJP veteran LK Advani. PM Modi's decision to bring Shah in his cabinet signals that he will now play a crucial role in the government, effectively the go-to man for the prime minister, several party leaders believe.

However, Rajnath Singh will remain officially the number two in the government, as made clear by him being the first minister to take oath after Modi. For all practical purposes, Shah has been the party's second most powerful leader after Modi since he became its president in 2014 after the BJP-led NDA assumed power.

Earlier, speculations were made that Shah would get the portfolio of Finance Ministry. However, the ministry will now be handled by Niramala Sitharaman, who is now the first women in the history of independent India to have hold this post. Other important portfolios include Railways Ministry, which is retained by Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways by Nitin Gadkari, Ministry of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ministry of Women and Child Development by Smriti Irani.