Union Ministers Najma Heptullah, GM Siddeshwara resign

Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah, who had crossed 75 years, resigned on Tuesday from the Union Cabinet along with Minister of State for Heavy Industries G M Siddeshwara. Announcing their resignations, a Rashtrapati Bhawan communique said these have been accepted.

Minister of state Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has been given independent charge of ministry of minority affairs. 

In another development, MoS of Urban Development Babul Supriyo was relieved of his charge in Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation. He was re-assigned the portfolio of MoS in the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. There was speculation last week when Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook the reshuffle that Heptullah and Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra, who had recently turned 75, could be asked to quit.

Modi is believed to have set an age bar of 75 years for ministers and had kept veterans like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi out of the Cabinet and co-opted them in ‘Margdarshak Mandal’. The resignations come a week after PM Modi carried out a major expansion and reshuffle of his Cabinet on July 5. The exercise saw induction of 19 new faces in the ministry and changes in key portfolios of several ministers.