Arun Jaitley gets additional charge of defence ministry after Parrikar resigns

President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation of Manohar Parrikar, who stepped down from the defence minister’s post on Monday ahead of taking oath as chief minister of Goa on Tuesday.

The Rashtrapati Bhavan released an official statement saying, “The President of India, as advised by the Prime Minister, has accepted the resignation of Shri Manohar Parrikar, from the Council of Ministers, with immediate effect, under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution.”

The president, acting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice, assigned the charge of the defence ministry to Arun Jaitley, who is also the finance minister.

This will be the 64-year-old Jaitley’s second stint as defence minister. He was also appointed defence minister in 2014 when the Modi government came into power.

Jaitley headed the ministry for a few months before Parrikar who was then the Goa chief minister, was appointed as defence minister.

Goa governor Mridula Sinha invited Parrikar to form the next government after he submitted a letter of support from 21 legislators on Sunday.

“I have tendered my resignation as defence minister and have sent it to the PMO. I will be taking the oath (as Goa chief minister) tomorrow evening, along with the cabinet ministers,” Parrikar told PTI.

The BJP, which came second by winning 13 seats in the 40-member assembly, managed to garner support from other parties and Independents to attain majority and derail the Congress, which had emerged as the largest party with 17 seats.