New Delhi: Narendra Modi sworn in Prime Minister

 

• He became the 15th Prime Minister in a virtual ‘coronation’ ceremony in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan before a 3000-strong gathering that included the heads of SAARC nations.

 

New Delhi, 26 May 2014 (PTI): Marking the beginning of a new era in Indian politics, Narendra Modi was today sworn in Prime Minister at the head of a 45—member coalition government after the elections that saw the BJP gain absolute majority in 30 years.

 

63—year—old Modi, the first leader to get a landslide victory for the BJP, became the 15th Prime Minister in a virtual ‘coronation’ ceremony in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhawan before a 3000-strong gathering, the largest audience at the swearing in a of new government.

 

 

Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharti, Maneka Gandhi, Ananth Kumar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani and Harsh Vardhan were among those who were sworn in as Cabinet ministers.

 

Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP), Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Akali Dal), Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) and Ashok Gajapathi Raju (TDP) were those from allied parties who took the oath today.

 

Dignitaries from politics, industry, cinema and religion, capped by leaders of SAARC nations including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, watched Modi take the oath of office and secrecy in Hindi.

 

Vice President Hamid Ansari, outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his ministerial colleagues P Chidambaram, Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Pallam Raju, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, outgoing Speaker Meira Kumar, former Presidents Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil were among those who attended the ceremony.

 

Differences during elections melted away before protocol as opponents including Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, J and K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were present at the ceremony.

 

Top industry figures like Mukesh Ambani and his family, his brother Anil, Kumarmangalam Birla, Sashi Ruia, Gautam Adani and V N Dhoot, film stars Salman Khan along with his father Salim Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Dharmendra and Anupam Kher, lyricist Javed Akthar were present along with a clutch saffron—robed seers including Pejawar Mutt chief Vishwendra Teertha Swamy. Cricketing great Sunil Gavaskar was also present.

 

UP, Maha get lion’s share in Union Cabinet

 

Uttar Pradesh, where BJP’s stunning performance in Lok Sabha elections helped it come to power on its own, has got the lion’s share of nine members in the 46-member council of ministers which was sworn in today.

 

BJP bagged 73 out of 80 seats along with its ally Apna Dal in the key battleground state and saw the rout of main regional parties such as BSP and ruling Samajwadi Party.

 

Leading the pack of members from UP is Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself who won the election from Varanasi.

 

Apart from the Prime Minister, the cabinet has four more party heavyweights--BJP President Rajnath Singh who won from Lucknow, Uma Bharti from Jhansi, Kalraj Mishra from Deoria and Maneka Gandhi from Pilibhit.

 

The state has also got representation in the form of two Ministers of State (independent charge)--former army chief V K Singh (Ghaziabad) and Santosh Gangwar from Bareilly.

 

The cabinet also got representation from western UP where riots had hit Muzaffarnagar last year and was believed to have been caused polarisation with Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjiv Kumar Baliyan taking oath as a Minister of State.

 

Eastern UP got its presence registered with Ghazipur MP Manoj Sinha also taking oath as Minister of State.

 

In terms of representation, Maharashtra takes the second place with former party chief Nitin Gadkari, senior leaders Gopinath Munde and Anant Geete (Shiv Sena) being inducted as cabinet ministers while Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goel getting Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and Rao Saheb Danve as a Minister of State.

 

In Congress-NCP-ruled Maharashtra, BJP-Sena alliance won 42 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats. Assembly polls in the state are due by October.

 

Bihar has got four ministers in Modi’s ministry, as against none in UPA II.

 

With three cabinet berths and one Minister of State (Mos) in its kitty, the spotlight is back on the state where assembly elections are due next year. BJP-led NDA walked away with 31 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

 

The state leaders, who were sworn in Modi’s council of ministers are Ravishankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan (all three cabinet ministers) and Rashtriya Loktantrik Samta Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha as a Minister of State.

 

Madhya Pradesh has an equal number of ministers with Sushma Swaraj, Najma Heptullah, Narendra Singh Tomar and Thavarchand Gehlot being made cabinet ministers.

 

From Karnataka, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, D V Sadananda Gowda were inducted as cabinet ministers whil G M Siddheshwara was sworn-in as a Minister of State.

 

From the Prime Minister’s home state of Gujarat, Arun Jaitley and Smriti Irani have been made cabinet ministers while Mansukhbhai Vasawa has been given Minister of State rank.

 

Haryana has got two members in the council of ministers with Rao Inderjit Singh taking over as Minister of State (independent charge) while Faridabad MP Kishanpal taking oath as a Minister of State.

 

From Odisha, the lone MP of BJP Jual Oram has been made a cabinet minister. Oram was also in the cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

 

Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the lone representative from Punjab while ShriGanganagar MP Nihalchand is the only representative from Rajasthan where all 25 seats in Lok Sabha were won by BJP.

 

Harsh Vardhan from Delhi, Sarbanand Sonowal from Assam, Jitendra Singh from Jammu and Kashmir, Pon Radhkrishnan from Tamil Nadu, Ashok Gajapthi Raju (TDP) from Andhra Pradesh, Shripad Nayak from Goa, Kiran Rijiju from Arunachal Pradesh and Vishnu Deo Sai from Chhatisgarh are also lone representatives from there respective states.

 

States which have got no no representation in the cabinet include West Bengal, Kerala, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Tripura.