Now Smriti is axed from key Cabinet panel

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs has been rejigged with Smriti Irani being dropped as a special invitee and her successor in the HRD Ministry Prakash Javadekar elevated as a member.

Najma Heptulla, the Minority Affairs Minister who had resigned from the Union Cabinet earlier this week, is no more a member of the panel.

In the recent Cabinet reshuffle, Irani was shifted from the HRD Ministry to Textiles.

Javadekar was earlier a special invitee to the committee.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, the new Law Minister, replaces his predecessor D V Sadananda Gowda in the panel.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who has been divested of his Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs portfolio, too has been dropped as a special invitee and replaced by S S Ahluwalia who is now the junior minister in the ministry.

Newly-inducted Minister of State in the Law Ministry P P Chaudhary has also been made a special invitee.

The CCPA, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, is mandated to recommend the dates of Parliament sessions. It has 11 members, including three special invitees.

Other members are Union ministers Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ram Vilas Paswan and Ananth Kumar.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is another special invitee, a fresh list issued by the Cabinet Secretariat said.