Irani, Tomar given charge of I&B, urban ministries as Venkaiah Naidu resigns

Smriti Irani and Narendra Singh Tomar have been given additional charge of the ministry of information and broadcasting and housing and urban poverty alleviation after M Venkaiah Naidu resigned to contest the vice presidential election, media reports said.

Naidu, who was named the vice-presidential candidate of the ruling NDA coalition, on Tuesday, submitted his resignation from the post of the minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation and information and broadcasting.

Narendra Singh Tomar currently holds the portfolios of rural development, panchayati raj, and drinking water and sanitation while Smriti Irani is in charge of the textile ministry.

Both Irani and Tomar had lost their portfolios in their earlier cabinet reshuffle in 2016 with Prakash Javedekar replacing Irani as the HRD minister and Piyush Goyal replacing Tomar with additional charge of mines ministry.

The cabinet is still short of three full-time cabinet ministers in the key ministries of defence, environment and urban development and this would necessitate a reshuffle or expansion of the cabinet.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley and science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan are currently holding additional charge of the defence and environment ministries.