Modi takes oath of PM for record 3rd term, 72 ministers with him

Narendra Modi on Sunday took oath for a third consecutive term as Prime Minister, along with 72 ministers, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan at an impressive ceremony attended by many foreign leaders.

Modi equalled the feat of Jawaharlal Nehru, who won three straight terms as India's first Prime Minister.

While PM Modi has secured another five years in power, this is the first time he will be running a coalition government after the BJP failed to secure an absolute majority on it's own in the Lok Sabha.

The new Council of Ministers will have 72 members and comprise 11 ministers belonging to NDA partners. The Modi 3.0 team will include 30 Cabinet Ministers, 5 Ministers of State with Independent Charge, and 36 Ministers of State. The portfolios will be announced later.

The Council of Ministers represented social groups, including 27 Other Backward Classes (OBC), ten Scheduled Castes (SC), five Scheduled Tribes (ST), and five minorities. A record 18 senior Ministers will be heading major ministries.

The swearing-in ceremony took place on the lawns of Rashtrapati Bhavan, with President Droupadi Murmu administering the oath of office to Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers.

Uttar Pradesh which had 14 ministers in the previous NDA government had a reduced share this time with only ten making the cut.

BJP chief JP Nadda, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, six-time Sundargarh MP Jual Oram, BJP Gujarat unit chief CR Patil were among the new entrants in PM Modi’s Cabinet. Jitin Prasada, a Cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, was sworn in as a Minister of State along with former Karnataka minister V Somanna.