Cabinet expansion: 19 new faces join the Modi ministry

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded his cabinet for the second time in 25 months. This cabinet expansion is said to have been done ahead of 2017 assembly elections in five states. Oath of office and secrecy was administered by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan, on Tuesday morning.

Several VIPs including BJP president Amit Shah were present on the occasion.

With the expansion and induction of nineteen new ministers, the number of council of ministers including the Prime Minister has gone up to 83.

Updates of cabinet expansion:

• SS Ahluwalia inducted in Prime Minister's cabinet. He is a BJP Lok Sabha member from Darjeeling, West Bengal.
• Saggan Singh Kulaste BJP minister from Madhya Pradesh takes oath as Cabinet Minister.
• Prakash Javedekar elevated as Cabinet Minister.
• Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi (LS member from Karnataka), Vijay Goel (Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan), Ramdas Athawale a Dalit leader and RS member from Maharashtra inducted in Modi's cabinet.
• Rajen Gohain, a Lok Sabha member from Assam takes oath as cabinet minister.
• Anil Madhav Dave (RS member from Madhya Pradesh), Parsottam Rupala (One of the Vice Presidents of BJP) take oath as Modi minister.
• MJ Akbar, a well-known journalist and RS member from Madhya Pradesh also inducted in Modi cabinet.
• Mahendra Nath Pandey (LS member from Chandauli, UP) Arjun Ram Meghwal (LS member from Rajasthan) and Jaswant Singh Bhabor (LS member from Gujarat) also in Modi team.
• Ajay Tamta (LS member from Uttarakhand), Krishna Raj, a Dalit leader and LS member from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh sworn in as Cabinet ministers.
• Mansukh L Mandaviya (RS member from Gujarat), Anupriya Patel (Lok Sabha member from Mirzapur), sworn-in as Modi team.
• CR Chaudhary (LS member from Rajasthan), PP Chaudhary (LS from Pali, Rajasthan), and Dr. Subhash Bhamre (LS from Maharashtra) sworn-in as Cabinet Ministers.

Also Read: Social engineering, Performance, Elections impacted expansion