Team Modi 2.0: PM Modi takes oath, several new faces replace BIG names

Narendra Modi took oath today as the country's Prime Minister for his second term. The prime minister was sworn in along with Union ministers, including BJP president Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari. Both Shah and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar were surprise picks. PM Modi (68) was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony that witnessed attendance of around 8000 guests at the forecourt of majestic Rashtraparti Bhavan. After taking oath, PM Modi tweeted, "Honoured to serve India!" As many as 24 cabinet ministers and as many MoS' while nine other were given MoS with independent charge rank.

New Team Modi

Other top leaders who were sworn-in today as cabinet ministers were D V Sadananda Gowda, Nirmala Sitharaman and Ram Vilas Paswan. Shah is expected to don the Finance Ministry portfolio. In the last five years, Shah has emerged as the BJP's key strategist who helped the party to expand its base after taking over the reins of the party in 2014. 

Others who took oath of office as cabinet ministers are -- Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Thanwar Chand Gehlot, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Arjun Munda, Smriti Irani, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Prahlad Joshi, Mahendra nath pandey, Arvind Sawant, Giriraj Singh and Gajendra Shekhawat.

READ | Full Narendra Modi Cabinet ministers list 2019: From Amit Shah, S Jaishankar to Arvind Sawant - Check new names in Team Modi 2.0

eaders who took oath as minister of state with independent charge are -- Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Rao Inderjit Singh, Shripad Yesso Naik, Jitendra Singh Kiren Rijiju, Prahalad Singh Patel, Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri Mansukh L Mandaviya. The minister of state include Faggan Singh Kulaste, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Arjun Ram Meghwal, V K Singh, Krishan Pal, Danve Raosaheb Dadarao, G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala, Ramdas Athawale, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Babul Supriyo, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Anurag Singh Thakur, Angadi Suresh Channabasappa, Nityanand Rai, Rattan Lal Kataria, V Muraleedharan, Renuka Singh Saruta, Som Parkash, Rameswar Teli, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Kailash Choudhary, Debasree Chaudhuri.

Some key ministers in the previous Modi government have failed to find place in the new team. These include Sushma Swaraj, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Maneka Gandhi. Former finance minister Arun Jaitley had yesterday written to Modi, requesting he didn't want to be a part of the new government due to health reasons. 

Guests

The guests who attended the even included former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, corporate honchos, film stars, chief ministers and a galaxy of leaders from BIMSTEC countries were part of the nearly 8,000 guests at the ceremony. 

Leaders of BIMSTEC countries including President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, President of Myanmar U Win Myint and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering attended the event. From Thailand, its Special Envoy Grisada Boonrach represented the country. Besides India, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan as members.

#ModiSwearingIn | प्रधानमंत्री #NarendraModi की दूसरी पारी को निहारती उनकी मां #HeerabenModi#OathCeremony #ModiSwearingIn #ModiSarkar2 #SwearinginCeremony #AmitShah #RashtrapatiBhavan pic.twitter.com/heo1Lbtd5R

— Zee Business (@ZeeBusiness) May 30, 2019

Kyrgyz President and current chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, and Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth also attended PM Modi's swearing-in.

(With agency inputs)