Modi Cabinet reshuffle: Piyush Goyal given additional charge of FinMin, Smriti Irani removed as I&B minister

Smriti Irani, whose tenure as the Information and Broadcasting Minister was mired in controversy, was tonight divested of the portfolio as Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled his cabinet in which Rail Minister Piyush Goyal was given the additional charge of the Finance Ministry.

Rail Minister Piyush Goyal was given the additional charge of the Finance Ministry. Photo: PTI (File)

NEW DELHI: In a major Cabinet reshuffle, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal was on Monday assigned additional charge of the Finance Ministry until Arun Jaitley is undergoing treatment. Smriti Irani was removed as the Information and Broadcasting Minister and  Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has been given independent charge of the portfolio. Rathore was Irani's deputy in the I and B Ministry. This is the second time that Irani has been moved from a key ministry as she was earlier shifted from the HRD Ministry to the relatively low-profile Textile Ministry. Irani will now handle only the Ministry of Textiles. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said during the indisposition of Arun Jaitley, the portfolio of Finance and Ministry of Corporate Affairs, have been "temporarily"  been assigned to Goyal. Arun Jaitley underwent a successful kidney transplant at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi and is stable after the more than four-hour surgery. Also, S S Ahluwalia has been relieved of the charge of Minister of State in Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry and assigned a new portfolio of Electronics and Information Technology, the communique said. Alphons Kannanthanam has been relieved as Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. He continues as Minister of State for Tourism.