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Narendra Modi Takes Oath As PM For Second Term, Amit Shah Joins Cabinet

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath for the second time today after a spectacular victory in the national election a week ago. Over 50 ministers joined him in the swearing-in held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in the presence of 8,000 guests including world leaders, dignitaries, politicians, celebrities and industrialists.

PM Modi, 68, walked to the podium for his oath to chants of "Modi, Modi" from the audience. The two other leaders who were cheered loudly by the crowd were Amit Shah and Smriti Irani.

Amit Shah, who is credited with leading the BJP to magnificent victories in election after election, is the most prominent newcomer in PM Modi’s second government. The 54-year-old is likely to handle one of the top four ministries in the cabinet. Amit Shah has been PM Modi’s confidant for over two decades.

Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his family constituency of Amethi, is expected to be rewarded with a big ministry.

PM Modi is expected to announce new Finance and Foreign Ministers after two big exits -- Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.

Ministers like Rajyavardhan Rathore, Jayant Sinha, JP Nadda and Anant Hegde have also been dropped.

Arun Jaitley, who was Finance Minister in the previous government, had yesterday written to PM Modi that he wanted to opt out because of his poor health. Sushma Swaraj too, had cited her health for not contesting elections this time.

Top opposition leaders including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi, industrialists, film stars and a galaxy of leaders from BIMSTEC countries were in the audience.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance returned to power with a massive haul of 352 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won 303 seats on its own.

Just before the ceremony, one of the party’s key allies, Nitish Kumar, said his party would not be a part of the government because the BJP’s offer of one cabinet berth was not acceptable. Mr Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, had reportedly asked for two ministries.

The BJP’s south ally AIADMK has also opted out, apparently because of disagreements over who would be included in the government.

Here is the list of PM Modi’s Council of Ministers 

Cabinet Ministers

1. Shri Narendra Modi

2. Shri Raj Nath Singh

3. Shri Amit Shah

4. Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari

5. Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda

6. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

7. Shri Ramvilas Paswan

8. Shri Narendra Singh Tomar

9. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad

10. Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal

11. Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot

12. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar

13. Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ’Nishank’

14. Shri Arjun Munda

15. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani

16. Dr. Harsh Vardhan

17. Shri Prakash Javadekar

18. Shri Piyush Goyal

19. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan

20. Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

21. Shri Pralhad Joshi

22. Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey

23. Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant

24. Shri Giriraj Singh

25. Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Ministers of State (Independent Charge)

1. Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar

2. Rao Inderjit Singh

3. Shri Shripad Yesso Naik

4. Dr. Jitendra Singh

5. Shri Kiren Rijiju

6. Shri Prahalad Singh Patel

7. Shri Raj Kumar Singh

8. Shri Hardeep Singh Puri

9. Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya

Ministers of State

1. Shri Faggansingh Kulaste

2. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey

3. Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal

4. General (Retd.) V. K. Singh

5. Shri Krishan Pal

6. Shri Danve Raosaheb Dadarao

7. Shri G. Kishan Reddy

8. Shri Parshottam Rupala

9. Shri Ramdas Athawale

10. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti

11. Shri Babul Supriyo

12. Shri Sanjeev Kumar Balyan

13. Shri Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao

14. Shri Anurag Singh Thakur

15. Shri Angadi Suresh Channabasappa

16. Shri Nityanand Rai

17. Shri. Rattan Lal Kataria

18. Shri V. Muraleedharan

19. Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta

20. Shri Som Parkash

21. Shri Rameswar Teli

22. Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi

23. Shri Kailash Choudhary