New Delhi: In a major rejig, Union ministers D V Sadananda Gowda and Smriti Irani have been dropped from the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA). Meanwhile, Irani’s successor in the HRD ministry Prakash Javdekar has been elevated as the member.
Smriti Irani, who was shifted from HRD Ministry to Textiles in the major Cabinet reshuffle was also a special invitee of the committee. Gowda has been replaced by his successor Ravi Shankar Prasad, the new Law Minister. Other than Irani and Gowda, Najma Heptulla, the Minority Affairs Minister who had resigned from the Union Cabinet earlier this week was also dropped from the panel.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who has been divested of his Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs portfolio, too has been dropped as a special invitee and replaced by S S Ahluwalia who is now the junior minister in the Ministry. Newly-inducted Minister of State in the Law Ministry P P Chaudhary has also been made a special invitee.
The CCPA, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, is mandated to recommend the dates of Parliament sessions. It has 11 members, including three special invitees.
Other members are Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ram Vilas Paswan and Ananth Kumar. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is another special invitee, a fresh list issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said.
