More resignations are pouring in ahead of the Union Cabinet expansion with Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan latest to exit from Modi's Council of Ministers, government sources told CNN-News18.
With this, Vardhan has become the seventh minister to resign ahead of the cabinet expansion exercise that is scheduled to be held at 6 pm at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Vardhan was at the forefront of the Modi government's fight against the coronavirus pandemic. His resignation from the health ministry has come at a time even as the second wave of COVID-19 is underway and a probable third wave likely to hit the country in September.
However, during his tenure as the Union health minister, Vardhan had courted several controversies including inaugurating FMCG company Patanjali's controversial anti-coronavirus kit Coronil in the presence of Yoga practitioner Ramdev. It's not clear as to what motivated the change in leadership of the health ministry at this crucial time.
Pokhriyal, Gowda resign as well
Besides Vardhan, two other Cabinet rank ministers resigned Wednesday from Modi's Council of Ministers. These include Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, according to PTI.
Pokhriyal's exit is also surprising given that the Union Minister for Education has been at the forefront in implementing the new education policy-related changes. The education ministry under Pokhriyal also made significant gains in online education making both contents as well as courses available for free to students across the country amid the pandemic.
Pokhriyal, who tested positive for COVID-19 on 21 April, was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi in June again following post-Covid complications. He has resigned from his post citing health reasons, sources said.
The former Uttarakhand chief minister took charge as the HRD minister in May 2019.
The other ministers who have quit include Minister of State for Women and Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar and Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre.
Dhotre, who represents the Akola Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra, also took charge as the MoS for Education, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology in May 2019.
Chaudhuri submitted her resignation in the morning, one of her close aides said. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from West Bengal's Raiganj constituency in the 2019 general elections.
Asked whether he has resigned from the post of Labour Minister, Gangwar answered in the affirmative. "Yes, I have resigned," he told PTI.
Gangwar said he is not aware of what his new role in the government will be.
Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot, Gehlot, who took over as the Governor of Karnataka on Tuesday, had told the media that he would resign on Wednesday as the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Gehlot on Wednesday tendered his resignation as a member of the Rajya Sabha. The Vice President's Secretariat said in a tweet that Gehlot called on Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also Chairman of the upper house, to submit his resignation.
"The Chairman accepted his resignation," the Vice President's Secretariat said. Gehlot was appointed governor on Tuesday. He was also the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha.
This is the first reshuffle in his Council of Ministers by Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.
Though the name of the new ministers has not been made official, according to PTI, ministerial probables met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence on Wednesday.
Those meeting Modi included BJP's Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Sunita Duggal, Meenakshi Lekhi, Bharati Pawar, Shantanu Thakur and Kapil Patil, JD(U)'s RCP Singh, LJP's Pashupati Paras and Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel.
July 07, 2021 at 05:16PM
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