Narendra Modi sworn in for third consecutive term as PM with 72 Ministers

Guwahati: Narendra Modi has been sworn in for a third consecutive term as Prime Minister of India, along with 72 ministers, in a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday.

Despite securing another five-year term, this will be the first time Modi shares power after the BJP lost its outright majority in the Lok Sabha following a fiercely contested election.

The new Council of Ministers consists of 72 members, including 11 ministers from NDA partners.

The Modi 3.0 administration features 30 Cabinet Ministers, 5 Ministers of State with Independent Charge, and 36 Ministers of State. Portfolio assignments are expected to be announced soon.

The Council of Ministers includes 27 members from Other Backward Classes (OBC), 10 from Scheduled Castes (SC), five from Scheduled Tribes (ST), and five from minority communities.

A record 18 senior ministers will head major ministries, though some notable figures are absent from the new Cabinet.

Prominent new faces in the Cabinet include 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, and BJP Gujarat unit chief CR Patil. Jitin Prasada, a Cabinet minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, and former Karnataka minister V Somanna were sworn in as Ministers of State.

Returning members of the Cabinet include Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Kiren Rijiju, Dharmendra Pradhan, Sarbananda Sonowal, Bhupender Yadav, Giriraj Singh, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and G. Kishan Reddy.

Among NDA allies, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, Hindustan Awam Morcha founder Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan aka Lalan Singh, and TDP MP Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu were appointed as Union ministers of Cabinet rank.

Ministers of State returning to the Council include Jitendra Singh, Ramdas Athawale, Nityanand Rai, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Shobha Karandlaje, Shripad Naik, Rao Inderjit Singh, and Krishan Pal Gurjar. Firebrand MP from Telangana Bandi Sanjay also took oath as a Union minister for the first time.

Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena secured a ministerial berth with Buldhana MP Prataprao Jadhav taking oath as MoS. Dr. Pemmasani Chandrasekhar from Chandrababu Naidu's party also landed a ministerial position. RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary and Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel made comebacks as Ministers of State.

The ceremony saw the attendance of approximately 8,000 guests, including leaders from neighbouring countries and the Indian Ocean Region, such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge attended the swearing-in ceremony, emphasizing his "constitutional duty" as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

However, several opposition leaders, including those from the Trinamool Congress and the Left, declined their invitations to participate.

The BJP-led NDA secured 293 seats in the recent Lok Sabha elections, with the BJP itself winning 240 seats, falling short of the 272 majority mark. This marks a significant shift from the party's previous decade-long single-party dominance.