PM Modi 3.0 with 72 ministers takes oath, 9 new faces in Cabinet

NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi took oath on Sunday, along with 72 ministers of the new coalition Government. Thirty of them are Cabinet Ministers, five independent charge, and 36 Ministers of State. The portfolios will be announced later.

PM Modi, 73, will head a coalition government in his third term, or Modi 3.0, for the first time since he became Prime Minister in 2014 following a huge “Brand Modi” victory after 10 years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule. He is the second Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to be elected for a third term in a row. The oath ceremony is being held at the lawns of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, with the weather office forecasting a maximum temperature of 42 degree Celsius in the national capital.

Shri Sarbananda Sonowal was the first leader from the northeast taken oath on Sunday, he will continue once again as the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways of India.

Shri Nitin Gadkari taken oath as the Union Minister of Road, Highways and Infrastructure for the coming term too, whereas Shri Piyush Goyal has taken oath as Union Commerce and Industry Minister like the last term and Smt Nirmala Sitharaman will continue as the Finance Minister of India once Again.

President Smt Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to PM Modi. Shri Rajnath Singh and Shri Amit Shah took oath after him. Shri Nitin Gadkari was the fourth leader to be administered the oath of office by the President. Shri JP Nadda, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan,Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Shri Jaishankar, and Shri Manohar Lal Khattar followed in taking oath.

HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular), who took oath after Mr Khattar, was the first leader from any of the BJP’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to take oath. Soon after, Janata Dal (United) leader Lalan Singh, a close aide of Bihar Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, also took oath.

Shri Virendra Kumar, a prominent Scheduled Castes face of the BJP and eight-time MP, was inducted into the Narendra Modi government. He won the election from Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh reserved seat.

Supporters of leaders who have been called to the stage clapped and cheered loudly, as they saw their leaders walk towards the mic to be administered oath by the President.

Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia’s induction into the Modi 3.0 council of minister has cemented his importance in the BJP since he left the Congress four years ago, marking the beginning of his second stint in the Union cabinet.

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, the former diplomat who helped India navigate through two back-to-back oil crises, was among the ministers sworn in.

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Chief Shri Chirag Paswan has solidified his status as the “real” political heir of his father, Ram Vilas Paswan, after he was inducted into the Narendra Modi government on Sunday. With this, Chirag Paswan makes a remarkable comeback in Bihar’s turbulent political landscape.

Leaders from India’s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean Region including Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the event.