S M Krishna was today appointed the new External Affairs Minister with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deciding to give the key portfolio of Finance to Pranab Mukherjee while retaining P Chidambaram as Home Minister.

Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee will head the Railway Ministry while Sharad Pawar and A K Antony will continue as Agriculture Minister and Defence Minister respectively, a Rashtrapathi Bhavan spokesperson said.