New Delhi: The BJP’s supreme commander, Narendra Damodardas Modi, began his second stint as Prime Minister in a grand ceremony held at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday.
In Mr Modi’s 2.0 reign, the first major surprise was BJP chief Amit Anilchandra Shah’s entry into the Union council of ministers and the second was the induction of former foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, who may take over the external affairs ministry from Sushma Swaraj. Till Thursday evening the speculation was that Ms Swaraj would return as external affairs minister. That she was out of the race became clear when Ms Swaraj walked in some time before the swearing-in ceremony and sat in the audience, with other senior party leaders.
Of the 58 ministers sworn in, including the Prime Minister, 25 were Cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state (independent charge) and 24 ministers of state.
Some prominent leaders who missed the bus included former minister of state for I&B minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha, former commerce minister Suresh Prabhu, and former minister Maneka Gandhi. The new government will hold its first Cabinet meeting on Friday.
The first meeting of the new Cabinet will take place at South Block at 5 pm on Friday.
Nearly 8,000 guests, which included the Bimstec leaders, politicians, corporate bosses and Bollywood stars, attended the swearing-in-ceremony, making it one of the biggest events ever held at Raisina Hill.
The grand swearing-in ceremony was attended by several Opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
