Two Indian ministers resign a week after Modi's cabinet expansion

President Pranab Mukherjee accepted the resignations of Najma A Heptulla and GM Siddeshwara

NEW DELHI: Two Indian ministers resigned on Tuesday, a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded his powerful inner circle to improve the efficiency of his administration.

India's president, on Modi's advice, has accepted the resignations of Najma A Heptulla, the minister of minority affairs, and GM Siddeshwara, the junior minister of heavy industries, the government said in a statement.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a junior minister in the minority affairs ministry, has been given independent charge of the ministry, while Babul Supriyo, a singer-turned-politician, would take up the junior minister's portfolio in the heavy industries ministry, the statement added.



The government did not give a reason for the decision.

Modi inducted 19 new ministers into his cabinet last Tuesday to bolster his two-year-old administration but drew criticism that he was backtracking on a promise of lean government.