Ahead of PM Modi’s first cabinet reboot in BJP’s 2nd term of ruling, more than 11 ministers have furnished their resignation. Following sharp criticism from across the world over the central government’s handling of the covid situation, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan stepped down from his post today along with Minister of State for Health Ashwini Chaube.
This comes after the second wave of covid throttled Indian health infrastructure due to oxygen shortages, lack of hospital beds, essential medicines and others, leaving thousands of people dead. It was also a result of the vaccination plan headed by the now-former Health Minister, which doesn’t seem to benefit the majority.
Big names have come up in the resignation front as the Education Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, has also resigned. Hours before the mega government reset, Union Minister Babul Supriyo and Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar also quit. According to reports, Mr Nishank and Mr Gangwar cited health issues in their respective resignation letters. The former labour minister further mentioned his ministry’s poor management of the migrants’ crisis during the pandemic that led him to take this decision.
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Resignations of 40 ministers are expected as the reshuffle is going to promote few existing ministers and appoint new individuals to take up the other roles.
The sudden influx of resignations come just before the Centre’s announcement of a new cabinet. 7 of the new ministers are said to be from Uttar Pradesh.
This revamping was the result of severe criticism, including that of the Supreme Court, which had slammed the Labour ministry for failing to create a portal for keeping a record of unorganized and migrant workers. On June 29th, the top court had said, “The lackadaisical attitude of the Ministry of Labour is unpardonable.” It is also due to the performance review done over the past weeks by PM Modi, Amit Shah and other top leaders.
Hints had been picked regarding who’s in and who’s out after people were spotted outside PM Modi’s residence. Many new names are set to join the revamped government and be sworn in as Union Ministers. Since Modi’s second term started in 2019, this will be the first reshuffle.
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Here’s a list of names that includes the people who are going to be appointed today, who’s resignation is expected later in the day, and who is getting promoted.
New appointments:
Jyotiraditya Scindia
Sarbananda Sonowal
Bharati Pawar
Narayan Rane
Pashupati Paras
Anupriya Patel
Meenakshi Lekhi
Ajay Bhatt
Ashwini Vaishnaw
Shobha Karandlaje
Kapil Patil
Bhupender Yadav
Sunita Duggal
Exits:
Harsh Vardhan
Babul Supriyo
Santosh Gangwar
Debasree Chaudhuri
Thawarchand Gehlot
Ashwini Kumar Choubey
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
Ratan Lal Kataria
Sanjay Dhotre
Sadananda Gowda
Promotions:
Parshottam Rupala
Anurag Thakur
Kiren Rijiju
Manush Mandavya
Hardeep Singh Puri
G Kishan Reddy
