Cabinet Reshuffle: Piyush Goyal to take over Finance Ministry from Arun Jaitley; Rajyavardhan Rathore to handle I&B ministry

In a major Cabinet reshuffle, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to take over  Finance Ministry from Arun Jaitley until he recovers. It will be Goyal's additional charge as Finance Minister till Arun Jaitley, who underwent a kidney surgery, recovers. Rajyavardhan Rathore Information & Broadcasting minister.

Rajyavardhan Rathore, Member of Parliament and who was in charge of sports ministry, will be the new I&B Minister with independent charge. Smriti Irani to look after Textiles. Union Minister Smriti Irani had handled the I&B ministry since last July as an additional charge when Venkaiah Naidu resigned after emerging as NDA's choice for the post of the vice-president. 

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SS Ahluwalia assigned the portfolio of MoS in Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, relieved of his charges of MoS in Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation. Alphons Kannanthanam relieved of charge of MoS in Ministry of Electrionics and Information Technology.

Union Minister Jaitley, who was suffering from a kidney infirmity and was undergoing dialysis for last one month, and now has underwent a surgery at AIIMS on Monday, the hospital said, while adding that both the minister and his donor were recovering. Dr Aarti Vij, chairperson of the media and protocol division said, “Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs underwent renal transplant surgery today at AIIMS Delhi. The surgery has been successful. Both the recipient and donor and stable and recovering well.”

AIIMS sources maintained that the minister had been admitted to the hospital on Saturday and was taken to the operation theatre at 8am. According to sources, nephrologist Dr Sandeep Guleria of Apollo Hospital — the brother of AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, a family friend — was part of the team performing the transplant.