NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu appointed Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India at the magnificent swearing-in ceremony that took place on June 9 with 30 Cabinet ministers, 36 ministers of state and five ministers of state with independent charge from the BJP and its allies joining the party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. A meeting of Union cabinet is likely to take place at 5 pm today.
At the ceremonial event held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday, the President administered the oaths of office and secrecy to the newly appointed members of the Council of Ministers. “The President of India has appointed Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi as the Prime Minister of India. Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has appointed the following as members of the Council of Ministers”, read an official statement.
The following leaders took oath as Cabinet Ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan: Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Jagat Prakash Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Manohar Lal Khattar, HD Kumaraswamy, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Sarbananda Sonowal, Virendra Kumar, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Pralhad Joshi, Jual Oram, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Bhupender Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Annpurna Devi, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, G Kishan Reddy, Chirag Paswan and C R Patil.
Additionally, the following were sworn in as Ministers of State (Independent Charge): Rao Inderjit Singh, Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao and Jayant Chaudhary.
The new Ministers of State include: Jitin Prasada, Shripad Yesso Naik, Pankaj Chaudhary, Krishan Pal, Ramdas Athawale, Ram Nath Thakur, Nityanand Rai, Anupriya Patel, V Somanna, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, S P Singh Baghel, Sobha Karandlaje, Kirtivardhan Singh, B L Verma, Shantanu Thakur, Suresh Gopi, L Murugan, Ajay Tamta, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Kamlesh Paswan, Bhagirath Choudhary, Satish Chandra Dubey, Sanjay Seth, Ravneet Singh, Durgadas Uikey, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, Sukanta Majumdar, Savitri Thakur, Tokhan Sahu, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma, Harsh Malhotra, Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya, Murlidhar Mohol, George Kurian and Pabitra Margherita.
The colourful swearing-in event, which reflected the rich diversity and vibrancy of India, was attended by senior political leaders, diplomats, leading industrialists, Bollywood actors and several other prominent personalities.
Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, Seychelles Vice President Ahmed Afif and Bangladesh PM Sheik Hasina attended the swearing-in ceremony of PM Narendra Modi.
PM Modi’s oath-taking ceremonies have seen special foreign policy outreach. He began his first term in office in 2014 in the presence of all heads of State of SAARC nations. He invited BIMSTEC leaders at the start of the second term in 2019.
The council of ministers is a blend of youth and experience with senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar taking the oath of office. Several young leaders from the BJP and allies, including first-time MPs, also made it to the council of ministers.
Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, who is the first BJP MP from Kerala and Harsh Malhotra, who won Lok Sabha polls from East Delhi, are among the first-time MPs in the union cabinet.BJP chief JP Nadda also took oath as union minister in an indication that the party could have a new chief.
PM Modi’s ministers’ team has 30 Cabinet ministers, five Ministers of State with Independent charge and 36 Ministers of State. Most of MPs took oath in Hindi while some took it in English.
BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won its third succesive term in results of Lok Sabha polls declared on June 4. The NDA won 293 seats in the Lok Sabha polls with BJP getting 240 seats. (ANI)