New Delhi, Jun 09, 2024, IANS/ Agencies
New Delhi. June 9 (IANS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Sunday sworn in for his third term in power, heading the NDA government.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Prime Minister at a colourful event at the Rashtrapati Bhavan attended by top leaders of friendly neighbouring countries, political leaders, religious leaders, diplomats, businessmen and film stars.
Among those present were Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kumar Dahal 'Prachanda', Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay, Seychelles Vice-President Ahmed Afif, former President Ram Nath Kovind, veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, superstars Rajinikanth, Shah Rukh Khan, and Akshay Kumar, and many more prominent figures from several fields.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister took oath along with 71 Council of Ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. This is the third consecutive term of the BJP-led National Democratic alliance (NDA) at the Centre, under the leadership of PM Modi.
The list of 71 ministers in the new coalition government comprises of 30 Cabinet Ministers, 5 Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge, and 36 Ministers of State (MoS).
The portfolios haven’t been announced yet, but the formation and structure of Modi 3.0 shows a pan-India representation and also adequate focus on the alliance partners.
A first look at the Union Cabinet shows a conscious effort to cover all corners of the country as the ministers hail from as many as 24 states.
A total of 11 ministers from the NDA alliance partners took oath of office and secrecy on Sunday.
At least 43 ministers have served in the Parliament for at least 3 or more terms in their previous stints, bringing a wide range of experience with them.
Former Chief Ministers such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar have also joined Team Modi, marking a new role from the state legislature to the Parliament.
At least 34 ministers are said to have prior experience in the state legislatures with 23 of them having served as Ministers of States.
The caste equations have also been factored as out of 71 ministers, 27 hail from the Other Backward Class (OBC), 10 from the Scheduled Caste (SC), 5 from the Scheduled Tribe (ST), and 5 from the minority community.
Notably, this is a record-setting term for PM Modi as he is the only second Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to be elected for third term in office in a row.
Agencies inputs:
Senior BJP leaders- Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Dr S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Bhupender Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Annapurna Devi, Rajya Sabha MPs Nirmala Sitharaman and JP Nadda, who is serving as BJP chief, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, were among those who took the Oath as Cabinet Ministers.
BJP leaders Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, G Kishen Reddy and C R Patil also took Oath as Cabinet Ministers.
Besides, former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) MP H.D. Kumaraswamy, former Bihar Chief Minister and HAM party chief Jiten Ram Manjhi, JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh, former Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal, BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh Dr Virendra Kumar, TDP MP Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, BJP MP from Odisha Jual Oram and LJP (Ramvilas ) Chief Chirag Paswan, were among others who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.
After the completion of the swearing-in ceremony of Union Cabinet Ministers, five MPs were sworn in as Ministers of State (Independent Charge). BJP leaders Rao Inderjit Singh, Dr Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Prataprao Jadhav of Shiv Sena and RLD Chief Jayant Chaudhary took oath as Ministers of State (Independent Charge).
Besides, BJP MPs Jitin Prasad, Shripad Yesso Naik, Pankaj Chaudhary, Nityanad Rai, Krishan Pal, V Somanna, S P Singh Baghel and Shobha Karandlaje, RPI’s Ramdas Athawale, Ramanth Thakur of JD(U), Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal(S) and TDP’s Dr. Pemmasani Chandrasekhar took Oath as Ministers of State.