Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will be charge of the Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises portfolio in addition to Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Information and Broadcasting.
Javadekar is already in charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
“The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant from the Union Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution,” read a communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has directed that Shri Prakash Javadekar, Cabinet Minister, be assigned the charge of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, in addition to his existing portfolios.”
Arvind Sawant is a Shiv Sena leader. He has quit the Modi cabinet at a time when his party and the BJP — whose relationship has been described as “on again, off again” — are feuding again.
The Shiv Sena and the BJP won a combined majority in the Maharashtra assembly election in October, but could not agree on sharing the chief minister’s job using a rotation system.
When Arvind Sawant resigned, he said the BJP had agreed to an “equal division of seats and power” after the state election in Maharashtra but later “rejected” this.
He accused the BJP of lying, and said there was “no trust left”.
Prasanta Patnaik