Irani takes charge of WCD Ministry
New Delhi: Amethi giant slayer Smriti Irani took charge as the Union Women and Child Development Minister on Monday and vowed to fulfil her commitment towards empowering women and creating a better future for children.
Apart from the WCD ministry, she will also continue with her past portfolio in the erstwhile Modi cabinet as textile minister. During the NDA government's maiden tenure from 2014-2019, Irani also held portfolios of HRD and Information & Broadcasting Minister.
Along with the ministry officials, the junior minister of WCD ministry Debashree Chaudhury, who won the major Raigunj Lok Sabha seat of West Bengal was also present to welcome her on the first day in the ministry. Not wasting time, soon after taking charge, Irani held a meeting with all senior officials of the ministry.
The minister further mentioned in her tweet, expressing her gratitude to PM Modi that, "Grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reposing his faith and giving me an opportunity to contribute to the well-being of children & foster Women-led Development. We will continue to fulfil our commitment towards empowering women and creating a better tomorrow for our children."
Irani had met her predecessor Maneka Gandhi on Saturday to discuss important issues in the ministry and the way forward in tackling them.
The 43-year popular television actor-turned-politician and an eloquent speaker was often the BJP's first choice for addressing the party's press conferences and had first contested a Lok Sabha election from Chandni Chowk in Delhi in 2004 but lost to Congress heavyweight Kapil Sibal.
After losing to Rahul Gandhi in 2014, she continued to cultivate Amethi in the past five years and this helped her to emerge as a giant-killer of 2019 by defeating the Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his home turf. However, during the general election, Irani managed in bringing down the victory margin of Gandhi to only 1.07 lakh from 3.7 lakh in the previous election and became the youngest cabinet minister.
