Modi Cabinet Formation HIGHLIGHTS: Big 4 retain portfolios as PM Modi banks on continuity, Shivraj Singh Chouhan appointed Agriculture Minister

JKNC Chief Farooq Abdullah on Monday congratulated PM Narendra Modi on the formation of new government and his third consecutive term as the Prime Minister. “I hope he will carry this nation forward towards peace and prosperity of the people, and that the election rhetorics are forgotten… He has to mend the hatred that has been created in the nation… They are here in Reasi. You have seen it in Pooch and Mander. Terrorism has not died. They are still there… I hope the Amarnath Yatra is taken care of and that no such incident happens again. I’ll request every person of the state to ensure that the yatra is carried out peacefully,” he said.

The number of Gujarat MPs in Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s third government has decreased to six from seven in the second term. Amit Shah, Mansukh Mandaviya, and S. Jaishankar were sworn in as cabinet ministers for the second consecutive time on Sunday.

New entrants include state BJP chief and Navsari MP CR Paatil, party president and Rajya Sabha member JP Nadda, and Bhavnagar MP Nimuben Bambhaniya. Shah and Mandaviya are Lok Sabha members, while Jaishankar represents Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha. Rajkot MP Parshottam Rupala, previously a minister, has been dropped, following controversy during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

(PTI inputs)

A record-breaking 72 ministers were sworn in on Sunday for the BJP-led NDA government’s third term, compared to 45 ministers in 2014 and 57 ministers in 2019.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new cabinet took oath on Sunday, over half of the previous cabinet’s 71 ministers were not included in the new Council of Ministers. Notable omissions include Anurag Singh Thakur and Smriti Zubin Irani.

At least seven cabinet ministers and 30 Ministers of State did not secure positions in the newly-formed Union Council. The outgoing Union Council had 26 cabinet ministers, three Ministers of State (Independent Charge), and 42 Ministers of State. Among the seven excluded cabinet ministers, Smriti Irani, Mahendra Nath Pandey, and RK Singh lost in the Lok Sabha polls, while Rupala, Thakur, and Rane, despite winning their respective seats, were not given ministerial berths in Modi 3.0.

Following are the 36 MPs who took oath as MoS in Modi‘s new government:

Following are the 5 MPs who took oath as MoS (Independent) in Modi‘s new government:

Following are the 30 MPs who took oath as Cabinet ministers in Modi‘s new government:

A day after swearing-in as Council of Ministers in the newly-formed Modi government, media reports say that the first cabinet meeting is likely to be held today at 5 pm.

President Droupadi Murmu swore in Narendra Modi as India‘s Prime Minister for a historic third consecutive term last evening. Modi now joins Jawaharlal Nehru, who won the 1952, 1957, and 1962 elections, in achieving this milestone. Leading a coalition government after two full BJP-majority terms, PM Modi was accompanied by 71 ministers — 30 Cabinet and 36 Ministers of State — who took their oaths at Rashtrapati Bhavan, forming the Modi 3.0 Cabinet.

With the conclusion of the ceremonials around the swearing-in of the Narendra Modi government, the entire focus now shifts to the allocation of portfolios. Follow this space as we get you more on this. Meanwhile, here is the full list of the ministers in the Narendra Modi Cabinet.

The swearing-in ceremony concluded with a total of 72 ministers being administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of 8,000 dignitaries. The culmination of the ceremony marks the onset of the new government, the third under the leadership of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.

PM Narendra Modi‘s new Cabinet will have 30 Cabinet ministers, 5 Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 36 Ministers of State. NDA partners have been given 11 ministerial berths while the BJP retains the lion’s share with 61 of its leaders being sworn in as ministers in the new Union Cabinet.

Narendra Modi has equalled Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of serving three consecutive terms as the Prime Minister of India. Modi was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Droupadi Murmu at a grand ceremony on the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of around 8,000 dignitaries. 71 ministers are taking oath as Cabinet ministers, Ministers of State and Ministers of State with Independent charge along with Modi.

Ajit Pawar’s NCP has stood out as the outlier among NDA allies as no minister from the party has taken oath as a Cabinet minister or Minister of State. The NCP’s exclusion is due to Pawar’s insistence on a Cabinet berth and refusal to settle for an MoS rank instead. Pawar confirmed that he is willing to wait for a Cabinet berth instead of settling for an MoS rank at the time of government formation.

As many as 6 former chief ministers are part of the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This list includes Shivraj Singh Chouhan (MP), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Rajnath Singh (UP), Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam), HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka) and Jitan Ram Manjhi (Bihar).

Jual Oram, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Bhupender Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Annapurna Devi, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, G Kishan Reddy, Chirag Paswan, CR Patil, Rao Inderjeet Singh (MoS), Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Pratap Rao Jadhav, Jayant Chaudhary, Jitin Prasada (MoS), Shripad Naik and Pankaj Chaudhary (MoS) have taken oath as ministers.

As many as 11 non-BJP NDA MPs are taking oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today. They include HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S), Rajiv Ranjan Singh of the JD(U), Chirag Paswan of the LJP (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM and Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD among others.

A total of 72 ministers are being sworn in along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A resounding 61 of them are BJP ministers while 11 of them belong to NDA partners. A total of 30 Cabinet rank ministers, 36 Ministers of State and 5 Ministers of State with Independent charge are taking oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan today.

HD Kumaraswamy, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Lalan Singh), Sarbananda Sonowal, Virendra Kumar, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, Pralhad Joshi and Jual Oram have taken oath as Cabinet ministers.

BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister, marking his return to the Union Cabinet after a gap of 5 years. Nadda had previously served as the Health minister in the first term of the Modi government. Narendra Modi has been sworn in as the Prime Minister along with Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar and Manohar Lal as ministers.

As many as 30 Cabinet ministers, 36 Ministers of State, and 5 Ministers of State with independent charge will take oath today along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Here is the list of ministers (tentative) likely to take oath today:

Amit Shah, Mansukh Mandaviya, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, Jitendra Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Hardeep Singh Puri, H D Kumaraswamy, Chirag Paswan, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju, Giriraj Singh, Jayant Chaudhary, Annamalai, ML Khattar, Suresh Gopi, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Ramnath Thakur, G Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Pralhad Joshi, Chandrashekhar Choudhary, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Jitin Prasad, Pankaj Chaudhary, B L Verma, Lalan Singh, Sarbananda Sonowal, Anupriya Patel, Pratap Rao Jadhav, Annapurna Devi, Raksha Khadse, Shobha Karandlaje, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Rao Inderjeet Singh, Ram Das Athawale, and Harsh Malhotra.

The guests have arrived and the stage is set for the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister and a host of other NDA MPs in his Council of Ministers. As many as 8,000 people, including heads of State from neighbouring countries, business and film personalities and political and religious leaders are among the attendees at the event being held on the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. As many as 65 MPs are set to take oath along with the Prime Minister of India. Watch our LIVE Coverage of the Modi Swearing-in ceremony here.

Ravneet Singh Bittu of the BJP is likely to get a berth on the Narendra Modi Cabinet. Bittu said that he was humbled by the opportunity given to him by the party despite him losing the election in Punjab.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar has refused to accept a ministerial position in the Modi Cabinet because his party was being offered the position of Minister of State. The NDA alliance partner has insisted that he would accept nothing less than a Cabinet berth for the NCP. The BJP has refused to accept the NCP’s demand at the moment and left it for a later date. Pawar said that he has no issues with waiting for a Cabinet berth.

Besides Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh who are likely to retain the Home and Defence portfolios, Bhupender Yadav, Hardeep Singh Puri and Jitendra Singh are also tipped to continue in the ministries they held in the 17th Lok Sabha. While Yadav held the portfolio as the Union Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Hardeep Singh Puri served as the Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas minister while Jitendra Singh was the Minister of State for the Ministry of Science and Technology and Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is likey to retain key portfolios that make for its Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). These portfolios include Home, Defence and External Affairs. The party is also likely to repeat the ministers associated in the past government – Amit Shah for Home, S Jaishankar for MEA and Rajnath SIngh for Defence.

Here is the full list of MPs who attended the tea party with Narendra Modi:

Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Lalan Singh, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi, Mansukh Mandaviya, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbanand Sonowal, Virendra Khatik, Juel Oram, Chirag Paswan, SPS Baghel, Ramdas Athawale, Jayant Chaudhari, Shobha Karandlaje, Pankaj Chaudhary, Shripad Naik, Kiran Rijiju, BL Verma, Kamlesh Paswan, Ravneet Bittu, DK Aruna, HD Kumaraswamy, S Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Bhupendra Yadav, Rao Inderjit Singh, Giriraj Singh, Dharmendra Pradhan, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Annapurna Devi, Kishen Pal Gujjar, ML Khattar, Hardeep Puri, Ashwani Vaishnaw, Pabitra Margherita, Nityanand Rai, Sukanta Majumdar, Anupriya Patel, CR Patil, L Murugan, Jitin Prasad, Jitendra Singh, Ram Mohan, Bandi Sanjay, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, P Chandrashekhar, Sarvanand Sonowal, Ramnath Thakur, Sanjay Seth, Raksha Khadse, CP Mohan, Virendra Kumar, Ajay Tamta, Harsh Malhotra.

PM-designate Narendra Modi met potential ministers at his residence over a cup of tea ahead of the oath ceremony later this evening. Prominent persons present at the meeting included Amit Shah, S Jaishankar, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Piyush Goyal and others. Those present at the meeting are expected to find place in the Modi cabinet.

Suresh Gopi, the first Member of Parliament from the BJP in Kerala, is set to be included as a minister in the new Modi government. “A Union Minister for Thrissur, Modi’s guarantee” was the slogan he used during his campaign.