Prahalad Singh Patel has been named the new Minister of State with Independent Charge of Tourism and Culture Ministries (MoS I/C) in the second Modi government. Elected from Damoh constituency in Madhya Pradesh, Patel is one of the new faces in the second National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. A seasoned politician, Patel has been a Member of Parliament in the 9th, 11th, 13th and 16th Lok Sabha. He was MoS for Coal in the AB Vajpayee government.
Major changes in the second Modi government are the appointment of Nirmala Sitaraman, as the new Finance Minister and allocation of important Home portfolio to Amit Shah. S Jaishankar, former Foreign Secretary, who has been inducted into the Cabinet, as expected will hold the important portfolio of External Affairs.
While Piyush Goyal will continue to hold the Railway portfolio, he has been given additional charge of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries as well. Another important appointment is that of Hardeep Singh Puri as the Minister of Civil Aviation with Independent Charge.
