Ashwini Vaishnaw to be the Railway Minister, given additional charge of IT, Communication

Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha, Ashwini Vaishnaw, along with 42 ministers, have been included in Prime Minister Narendra's new Cabinet. Sources informed that Vaishnaw has been given the charge of the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Information Technology & Communication.

Earlier, the Railway Ministry portfolio was held by Piyush Goyal, whereas the Ministry of IT and Communications was held by Ravi Shankar Prasad.

According to Republic sources, Vaishnaw was handed these portfolios because of his administrative experience as a former Indian Administrative Officer (IAS). He also has a rich background in the corporate sector. 

Who is Ashwini Vaishnaw?

Ashwini Vaishnaw is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Pary (BJP). Since 2019, he has been representing Odisha in the Rajya Sabha. He is a former IAS from the 1994 batch. During his tenure as IAS, he served as a collector in Cuttack and Balasore districts. 

He worked in Odisha till 2003 following which he was appointed in the PMO as deputy secretary. After the BJP-led NDA lost the 2004 elections, Vaishnaw was appointed as former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's private secretary.

He also worked as deputy chairman of Mormugao Port Trust for two years. In 2008, Vaishnaw left for the United States to do his MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

PM Modi's Cabinet Reshuffle

PM Modi on Wednesday announced the expansion of his cabinet and inducted 43 new ministers. The government also formed a ministry of cooperation ahead of the cabinet reboot. 

The most notable inclusions have been Narayan Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal and Anupriya Patel. Meanwhile, Hiren Rijiju, Mansuk Mandaviya and Hardeep Singh Puri also took oath as cabinet ministers.

Ahead of this major development, former law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was dropped from the cabinet, along with Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, Union minister for information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar and Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

With the latest inductions, the council of PM Modi will now have 77 ministers