New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on former President of India Pratibha Patil and former PMs Dr Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda to get their blessings as he began his third consecutive term. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by PM Modi was sworn in on Sunday, and 72 ministers were assigned their respective portfolios on Monday.
Prior to meeting them, the newly formed Modi government 3.0 held its first cabinet meeting on Monday evening. The first meeting of the Cabinet was chaired by PM Modi at the Prime Minister's 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, residence. Several newly inducted ministers including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, S Jaishanker, JP Nadda, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, H D Kumaraswamy, and Manohar Lal Khattar, among others, were seen at the meeting.
Before staking the claim to form the government, PM Modi had visited veteran BJP leaders LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. Notably, PM Modi reached their residence soon after being chosen by all the coalition parties as the leader of NDA, leader of the BJP in Lok Sabha and the leader of the BJP parliamentary party.
PM Modi's new Cabinet
On Sunday, a grand swearing-in ceremony took place for the Modi government 3.0, attended by notable foreign dignitaries and prominent personalities from across India. This was the longest swearing-in ceremony for PM Modi, with 72 ministers taking the oath of office. The new cabinet includes 30 cabinet ministers, 5 ministers of state with independent charge, and 36 state ministers.
Out of the 72 ministers, 60 are from the BJP. The Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party have 2 ministers each, while JD (S), LJP, HAM, RPI, Apna Dal (S), Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), and RLD have one minister each. The cabinet included notable minority representatives: Hardeep Puri and Ravneet Bittu from the Sikh community, Kiren Rijiju from the Buddhist community, and George Kurian and Pabitra Margherita from the Christian community.
Out of all ministers, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, S Jaishankar and Nirmala Sitharaman retained the top four ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, External Affairs and Finance. Shivraj Singh Chouhan was allocated the Agriculture and Rural Development ministries, while JP Nadda became the Health Minister as well as taking over the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Manohar Lal Khattar was assigned the Ministries of Power, Housing and Urban Affairs. LJP chief Chirag Paswan was tasked with the Sports Ministry and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy became the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises as well as Steel. Jiten Ram Manjhi of HAM was given the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
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