Team News Riveting
New Delhi, June 9
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in with 72 ministers in the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition government on Sunday evening.
Of the ministers, 30 are Cabinet Ministers, five independent charge, and 36 Ministers of State. The portfolios will be announced later.
Clad in white kurta and churidar with a blue chequered jacket, 73-year-old Modi took oath in Hindi. He will head a coalition government in his third term, or Modi 3.0, for the first time since he became Prime Minister in 2014. He is the second Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to be elected for a third term in a row.
“Took oath as Prime Minister at the ceremony earlier this evening. I look forward to serving 140 crore Indians and working with the Council of Ministers to take India to new heights of progress,” Modi took to X.
The oath ceremony was held at the lawns of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Dignitaries from neighbouring countries and the Indian Ocean Region attended the ceremony. They included Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Prime Minister of BhutanTshering Tobgay.
President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Prime Minister and the Ministers. Rajnath Singh was second to take oath followed by Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari.
HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) was the first leader from the NDA allies to take oath.
Seven women have been inducted into the cabinet. Those who were dropped include former Union Minister Smriti Irani, Minister of State Dr Bharti Pawar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Darshana Jardosh, Meenakshi Lekhi, and Pratima Bhoumik.
The new ministers inducted into the council of ministers are former Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP MPs Annpurna Devi, Shobha Karandlaje, Raksha Khadse, Savitri Thakur, and Nimuben Bambhaniya, and Apna Dal MP Anupriya Patel. Sitharaman and Devi have been inducted in the Cabinet while the rest have sworn in as minister of state.
