President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office to 21 Ministers, including four Cabinet Ministers, three Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and 14 Ministers of State on Sunday afternoon.
The Cabinet Ministers sworn in include former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, Haryana leader Birendra Singh and BJP General Secretary J.P. Nadda. Prabhu, a Shiv Sainik, joined the BJP after he was sworn in.
The new inductees are an eclectic mix. Parrikar and Jayant Sinha graduated from the Indian Institutes of Technology. Sinha who also studied at Harvard has more than a decade's experience at management consulting giant McKinsey and Company. Newly inducted Minister of State Hansraj Ahir was one of the people who exposed the coal block allocation scam.
This takes the strength of the Union Council of Ministers to 66. It is also the first expansion of the Union Council of Ministers since the Modi government took office on May 26.(KH/PL)
