Sadananda Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar given charge of Ananth Kumar’s portfolios
New Delhi: Following the demise of Union Minister and Karnataka BJP leader Ananth Kumar, Union Ministers DV Sadananda Gowda and Narendra Singh Tomar were assigned additional portfolios of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, respectively. President Ram Nath Kovind, as advised by the Prime Minister, gave the directions.
While Gowda is in charge of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Tomar holds the portfolio of the Ministry of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines. The two ministers were assigned the additional portfolios which were earlier held by Ananth Kumar.
Ananth Kumar, a Union Minister and six-time MP, Monday died at a private hospital after battling lung cancer for several months. Kumar, 59, breathed his last around 2 am with his wife Tejaswini and two daughters by his bedside, said Sankara Hospital Director Nagaraj. He had returned to Bengaluru only recently after undergoing treatment in the US and Britain. The senior BJP leader had been on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit for the last few days.
He was cremated with full state honours at the Chamarajapet crematorium in Bengaluru Tuesday. Veteran BJP leader and former deputy prime minister L K Advani, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president Amit Shah and state party chief B S Yeddyurappa and RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi were present at the last rites.
