NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi was on Thursday sworn in as country’s Prime Minister of India for a second term, heading the National Democratic Alliance government in the presence of a large gathering of national and international dignitaries.
Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony at the forecourt of majestic Rashtraparti Bhavan.
Top opposition leaders including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, corporate honchos, film stars, chief ministers and a galaxy of leaders from BIMSTEC countries were part of the nearly 8,000 guests at the ceremony.
This is the second time Modi took the oath at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Modi was sworn in by the then President Pranab Mukherjee in 2014 in the presence of over 3,500 guests including the heads of SAARC countries.
Earlier, Chandra Shekhar in 1990 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 were sworn in at the sprawling forecourt.
Leaders of BIMSTEC countries including President of Bangladesh Abdul Hamid, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, President of Myanmar U Win Myint and Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering also attended the gala event.
From Thailand, its Special Envoy Grisada Boonrach represented the country. Besides India, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) comprises Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan as members.
Kyrgyz President and current chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, and Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth also attended the event.
Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, The President has appointed the following as Members of the Union Council of Ministers:-
Cabinet Ministers
1. Shri Raj Nath Singh
2. Shri Amit Shah
3. Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari
4. Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda
5. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
6. Shri Ramvilas Paswan
7. Shri Narendra Singh Tomar
8. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad
9. Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
10. Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot
11. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
12. Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
13. Shri Arjun Munda
14. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani
15. Dr. Harsh Vardhan
16. Shri Prakash Javadekar
17. Shri Piyush Goyal
18. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
19. Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
20. Shri Pralhad Joshi
21. Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey
22. Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant
23. Shri Giriraj Singh
24. Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
1. Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar
2. Rao Inderjit Singh
3. Shri Shripad Yesso Naik
4. Dr. Jitendra Singh
5. Shri Kiren Rijiju
6. Shri Prahalad Singh Patel
7. Shri Raj Kumar Singh
8. Shri Hardeep Singh Puri
9. Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya
Ministers of State
1. Shri Faggansingh Kulaste
2. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey
3. Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal
4. General (Retd.) V. K. Singh
5. Shri Krishan Pal
6. Shri Danve Raosaheb Dadarao
7. Shri G. Kishan Reddy
8. Shri Parshottam Rupala
9. Shri Ramdas Athawale
10. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
11. Shri Babul Supriyo
12. Shri Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
13. Shri Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao
14. Shri Anurag Singh Thakur
15. Shri Angadi Suresh Channabasappa
16. Shri Nityanand Rai
17. Shri Rattan Lal Kataria
18. Shri V. Muraleedharan
19. Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta
20. Shri Som Parkash
21. Shri Rameswar Teli
22. Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi
23. Shri Kailash Choudhary
24. Smt. Debasree Chaudhuri
