New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath with 71 ministers yesterday to form the new coalition government. President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to the incoming ministers. The Prime Minister, 30 are Cabinet Ministers, five Ministers Of State with Independent charge, and 36 Ministers of State.
The portfolios will be announced shortly today.Â
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 Nitish Kumar, also took the oath.
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Here Are Live Updates On Cabinet Portfolio AnnouncementÂ
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took oath as the head of a coalition government, is holding his first cabinet meeting at his residence in Delhi. On the agenda is advising the President to formulate the 18th Lok Sabha.Â
In its first decision, the Cabinet has cleared plans to build 3 crore houses for the rural and urban poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. This morning, PM Modi signed his first file authorising the release of around Rs 20,000 crore to about 9.3 crore farmers.
Thirty cabinet ministers, new and old, took oath last evening at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Five Ministers of State with Independent charge and 36 junior ministers were also sworn in.
In the first Cabinet meeting of 3.0, the ministers agreed to provide assistance to 3 crore additional rural and urban households for the construction of houses, to meet the housing requirements arising out of the increase in the number of eligible families.
The 72-member council of ministers in the third Narendra Modi government has seven women, including two with cabinet rank. This is four less than the outgoing council of ministers.
Nirmala Sitharaman and Annpurna Devi were sworn in as cabinet ministers in the grand ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan last evening.
While Ms Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha MP, has earlier held big-ticket portfolios such as finance and defence, two-time Koderma MP Annpurna Devi has been promoted from the minister of state rank to a cabinet minister position. She was the junior minister for education in the outgoing government.
The other women sworn in as ministers yesterday are Anupriya Patel, Raksha Khadse, Savitri Thakur, Shobha Karandlaje and Nimuben Bambhaniya.
Anupriya Patel is the chief of Apna Dal (Sonelal), an ally of the BJP. She was minister of state for health and family welfare in the first Narendra Modi government, and was named the junior minister for commerce and industry in Modi 2.0. Her party’s Lok Sabha seat tally dropped from two to one in this election.
Thirty-seven-year-old Raksha Khadse is the daughter-in-law of veteran Maharashtra politician Eknath Khadse. A three-time MP from Raver, Ms Khadse has earlier worked as a sarpanch and a member of the Zila Parishad.
The first and second Narendra Modi governments were sworn in 10 and seven days, respectively, after the poll results. This time, the BJP fell short of a majority and its top leadership had to hold several discussions with allies, especially N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JDU, to reach a consensus on ministerial berths.Â
Yet, the BJP managed to hold the swearing-in ceremony of a full cabinet of 72 ministers just four days after the verdict.
A key question, however, remains – who gets the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post? Multiple reports have claimed that both the TDP and JDU, which have emerged as kingmakers in this election, are looking at the key position. But BJP sources have said they are not keen to hand it over.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today assumed office for a third consecutive term in his South Block office in Delhi following last evening’s swearing-in ceremony, where he led a 72-member Union Council of Ministers into office. The first file that he signed was related to farmers’ welfare scheme ‘PM Kisan Nidhi’.
The immediate agenda for the newly sworn-in Prime Minister includes a Cabinet meeting. The Cabinet is expected to formally request President Droupadi Murmu to summon a session of Parliament. This session will include the President’s address to both houses, outlining the government’s vision and priorities for the upcoming term.
NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule on Monday said she was not surprised that the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) did not get a berth in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new cabinet.
Speaking to reporters in Pune on the 25th foundation day of the NCP, founded by her father, the Baramati MP said as the NDA holds its first cabinet meeting, it should grant full loan waiver for farmers.