Eleven MPs belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance were inducted into the Union Council of Ministers on Sunday.
This included two MPs each from the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United), and one each from the Janata Dal (Secular), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and the Hindustani Awam Morcha, among others.
BJP leader Narendra Modi took oath as the prime minister for the third consecutive term at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
The BJP won 240 Lok Sabha seats in the general election, a significant dip from its tally of 303 seats in 2019. A party or alliance requires 272 seats in the 543-member Lower House of Parliament to form a government at the Centre.
With the BJP falling 32 seats short of the majority, it formed the Union government with the support of its partners in the National Democratic Alliance. The final tally of the National Democratic Alliance parties is 292 seats.
On Sunday, former Karnataka Chief Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan were inducted as Cabinet ministers.
Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu of the N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party was also included as a Cabinet minister. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani of the Andhra Pradesh-based party was made a Minister of State.
Lalan Singh from the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) also took oath as a Cabinet minister. Party leader Ram Nath Thakur was inducted as a Minister of State.
The Telugu Desam Party has 16 Lok Sabha MPs and the Janata Dal (United) has 12. Besides these ministerial berths, the two parties have also reportedly sought special category status for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha founder Jitan Ram Manjhi was sworn in as a Cabinet minister.
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Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary and Prataprao Jadhav of the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction were made Minister of State (Independent Charge).
Apna Dal (Soneylal) leader Anupriya Patel and Republican Party of India (Athawale) chief Ramdas Athawale were included as Minister of State. Athawale and Patel have been Union ministers since 2016.
The ministerial portfolios were not announced immediately.
No member of the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party faction, which is part of the BJP-led alliance, was inducted into the Council of Ministers.
Party leader Praful Patel told reporters that while they had been offered the position of a Minister of State (Independent Charge), they turned it down as the party previously had a Cabinet rank at the Centre during the United Progressive Alliance government.
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