New Delhi: Narendra Modi took oath as Prime Minister for the third consecutive time on Sunday. He was sworn in for this post for the first time in 2014. After Modi in the swearing-in ceremony on Sunday, Rajnath Singh took oath as a minister. Amit Shah came third among those who took oath and he also took oath as a minister. For the first time, BJP President JP Nadda, former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar have been included in the Union Cabinet. He took oath along with 72 ministers of the new coalition government. Of these, 30 are cabinet ministers, five independent charge and 36 ministers of state. The departments will be announced later. There are 9 new faces among those who took oath.
In the presence of more than 8,000 guests at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Modi and his council of ministers officially started the third term of the NDA. PM Modi is the second Prime Minister to be elected for a third consecutive term after Jawaharlal Nehru. PM Modi won the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi by 1.5 lakh votes, a very narrow margin from the 4.6 lakh vote lead he had over his nearest rival in the 2019 election.
Nitin Gadkari has also got a place in the cabinet. Nitin Gadkari was also among those who took oath after Amit Shah. After Gadkari, BJP President JP Nadda also took oath as a minister. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has also been included in the cabinet. Shivraj Singh had to resign from the post of MP CM even before the Lok Sabha elections. Now he has been brought to the Center. Nirmala Sitharaman, who was the Finance Minister in the previous Modi government, has also taken oath as a Union Minister. S Jaishankar, who was the Foreign Minister last time, has also been retained in the cabinet. Jaishankar also took oath. Piyush Goyal has also been retained in the cabinet.
Former Haryana Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar has also been brought to the Center. He too had to resign from the post of Chief Minister before the Lok Sabha elections. It was then said that preparations were on to bring him to the Center. Former Karnataka CM and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy also took oath as a minister. JDS is an ally of BJP in the NDA. Dharmendra Pradhan has also been retained as a minister.
Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM Party, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh of JDU have also taken oath as Union Ministers. Ashwini Vaishnav also retained the ministerial post. BJP leaders Prahlad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Dr. Virendra Kumar, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, TDP leader Ram Mohan Naidu also took oath.
Hardeep Singh Puri, a former diplomat who helped India overcome two consecutive oil crises, was among the ministers sworn in.
He has been serving in the Council of Ministers since September 2017 and in the Cabinet since July 2021. Born in Delhi in 1952 to a family that became refugees after Partition, Puri joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974 and served as ambassador to the United Nations, Brazil, Japan and Britain. After retirement he joined the BJP in 2013.
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan has consolidated his position as the ‘real’ political heir of his father Ram Vilas Paswan after joining the Narendra Modi government.
Leaders from India’s neighbouring countries and the Indian Ocean region, including Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maldives President Mohammad Muizzu and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, attended the swearing-in ceremony.
The Ajit Pawar faction of NCP, which is part of the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, may be disappointed by not getting a place in the cabinet in the new Modi government. Instead, NCP is being given the post of Minister of State with independent charge, which party leader Praful Patel has described as demotion. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said, ‘The Nationalist Congress Party was offered one seat from the government – the post of Minister of State with independent charge. But Praful Patel’s name was finalized from their side and he is already a minister. Therefore, he will not be able to hold the post of Minister of State with independent charge.’
However, Fadnavis said that Ajit Pawar’s party will be taken into consideration during the future cabinet expansion. Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar said that the party is ready to wait for a few days for the cabinet minister post.
Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister of India for a third consecutive term on June 9, five days after the BJP-led NDA won a majority in the Lok Sabha elections for the third straight time.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to Modi and other members of the Union Council of Ministers at a glittering ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The event saw the presence of top leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region, including Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Bangladesh President Sheikh Hasina, among others.
Modi’s new team includes Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Manohar Lal, Janata Dal (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, JDU’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Sarbananda Sonowal, Virendra Kumar, TDP’s Ram Mohan Naidu, Pralhad Joshi, Jual Oram, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The government is yet to announce which specific portfolio will be held by each of these ministers.
Meanwhile, the other leaders who took oath with Modi are, Suresh Gopi, L Murugan, Ajay Tamta, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Kamlesh Paswan, Bhagirath Chaudhary, Satish Dubey, Sanjay Seth, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Durgadas Uikey, Raksha Khadse, Sukanta Majumdar, Savitri Thakur, Tokhan Sahu, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, Srinivasa Varma, Harsh Malhotra, Nimuben Bambhania, Murlidhar Mohol, George Kurian, Pabitra Margherita.
