Narendra Modi Cabinet list: Amit Shah in, S Jaishankar surprise pick; check pics
With BJP chief Amit Shah making his debut at the Centre and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar emerging as a surprise pick, Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister for his second term on Thursday, helming a 58-member ministry. Besides 25 Cabinet ministers including Modi, Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal and Jaishankar, nine were sworn in as Minister of State with Independent charge and another 24 as Minister of State. Wearing a beige Nehru jacket, Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony. after taking oath, he tweeted, "Honoured to serve India!"
Wearing a beige Nehru jacket, Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony. after taking oath, he tweeted, "Honoured to serve India!" Image source: IANS
Uttar Pradesh accounted for a maximum of 9 ministers. Besides Modi, the ministers representing Uttar Pradesh are Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Sanjeev Balyan, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, V K Singh, Santosh Gangwar, Hardeep Singh Puri and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The BJP won 62 seats in the state while its ally bagged two. Image source: IANS
While the inclusion of Amit Shah, seen as BJP's key strategist who helped the party expand its base after taking over the reins of the party in 2014, was the subject of intense speculation since the party's spectacular victory on May 23. Image source: IANS
Ministers from Maharashtra include Nitin Gadkari, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Arvind Sawant, Danve Patil, Ramdas Athawale and Shamrao Dhotre. Gadkari is likley to become Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Minister of Shipping, Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Image source: IANS
Nirmala Sitharaman, who is again expected to become Minister of Defence, took oath as a Cabinet minister on Thursday. Before being elevated as the Defence minister in the earlier Modi government, Sitharaman served as the MoS for Finance and Corporate Affairs and was also Minister for Commerce and Industry with independent charge. Image source: IANS
Smriti Irani, who earned the tag of giant killer for defeating Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in his home turf in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, was among the six women ministers. An actor-turned-politician, Irani has been one of the more visible faces of the Modi government and has often been called upon to articulate the BJP's point of view. She is the giant killer of this Lok Sabha election who vanquished Congress President Rahul Gandhi. Image source: IANS
S Jaishankar, considered close to Modi, was a surprise pick. A seasoned diplomat, Jaishankar was the Indian government's pointsman for China and the US. Son of late K Subrahmanyam, one of India's leading strategic analysts, Jaishankar was a key member of the Indian team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service(IFS) only last year to join Tata Trusts. Image source: IANS
States like West Bengal where the BJP had a spectacular showing winning 18 seats accounted for two ministers--Babul Supriyo and Debasree Chaudhuri. As the sun set over the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the two-hour swearing-in ceremony commenced with 8,000 people packing into the forecourt of the historic British-era presidential palace. Image source: IANS
D V Sadananda Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Thanwar Chand Gehlot, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Arjun Munda, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Pralhad Joshi, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Giriraj Singh and Gajendra Shekhawat were the other BJP leaders who were made cabinet ministers. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Arvind Sawant, and Ram Vilas Paswan represented allies Akali Dal, Shiv Sena and LJP respectively. Image source: IANS
The 9 who took oath as minister of state with independent charge are -- Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Rao Inderjit Singh, Shripad Yesso Naik, Jitendra Singh, Kiren Rijiju, Prahalad Singh Patel, Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri and Mansukh L Mandaviya. Image source: PTI
The 24 ministers of state were --Faggan Singh Kulaste, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Arjun Ram Meghwal, V K Singh, Krishan Pal, Danve Raosaheb Dadarao, G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala, Ramdas Athawale, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Babul Supriyo, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Anurag Singh Thakur, Angadi Suresh Channabasappa, Nityanand Rai, Rattan Lal Kataria, V Muraleedharan, Renuka Singh Saruta, Som Parkash, Rameswar Teli, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Kailash Choudhary, Debasree Chaudhuri. Image source: PTI