The Prime Minister decided to make a major makeover to the BJP’s third generation of leaders. This is the first shuffle done since BJP was formed in 1980 by A.B. Vajpayee.
The change started with naming Nirmala Sitharaman as the Defense Minister unburdening Arun Jaitley who also acts as the Finance Minister.
Narendra Modi also replaced the Railway Minister from Suresh Prabhu to Piyush Goyal. Suresh Prabhu was not demoted but given the Ministry of Commerce.
Skill Development to Petroleum Minister was given to Dharmendra Pradhan.
Sitharaman will be the second woman defense minister after Indra Gandhi, held the post while being Prime Minister.
A senior party member described Sitharaman in four words, “imandari, samajhdari, pratibaddhatha aur mehnat” (honesty, wisdom, commitment and hard work.)
Chief Minister of Goa and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar reacted to her appointment, “Very excellent, well thought out decision. Nirmala is very analytical, deep thinking, hard working and very knowledgeable.”
Arun Jaitley also addressed the reshuffle, “A very significant landmark in this reshuffle is that we now have Nirmala Sitharaman as (the)new defence minister. I am sure, now that I have an extremely competent successor, she will carry the road forward… it is a case where a minister performs well and earn a higher responsibility for herself.”
