New Delhi, June 9: Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan Sunday, only the second after Jawaharlal Nehru to secure a third consecutive term.
The 72-member Union Council of Ministers which was administered the oath of office by Indian President Droupadi Murmu included 30 Cabinet Ministers and 5 Ministers of State (independent charge).
According to the Indian Media, With the BJP no longer in majority in Lok Sabha and dependent on allies including TDP and JD(U), the NDA Council of Ministers signalled both continuity and change – veteran leaders Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar and Piyush Goyal were among 19 retained as Cabinet Ministers.
Others back in Cabinet were Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Sarbananda Sonowal, Virendra Kumar, Giriraj Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, Bhupender Yadav and G Kishan Reddy.
New entrants in the Cabinet included J P Nadda, whose term as BJP president ends this month, and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil.
Annapurna Devi, who was a Minister of State in Modi’s previous term, found a Cabinet berth. Jual Oram, who was a minister in Modi’s first term, was inducted as a Cabinet Minister.