New Delhi: Narendra Modi was sworn-in as the Prime Minister of India for a third consecutive term on Sunday (June 9). But this is the first time he has been sworn into the role as the head of a coalition government. In addition to Modi, a total of 71 ministers including 30 cabinet ministers, 36 ministers of state and five ministers of state with independent charge were also sworn in.
While the union cabinet includes top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, and Nitin Gadkari, a new addition has come in the form of party president, J.P. Nadda. Nadda’s term as BJP president will end this month.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
The BJP fell short of a majority on its own in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, winning 240 seats, and thus has to rely on its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to form the government. Its two crucial allies – the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) that have 16 and 12 seats respectively, are accordingly the only two parties to have been given two berths each.
TDP’s Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has taken oath as cabinet minister and Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, as minister of state. From the JD(U), Rajeev Ranjan Singh has taken oath as cabinet minister while Ram Nath Thakur has been made minister of state.
Other allies from Bihar including Chirag Paswan from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), former Karnataka chief minister H.D Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) have also been given cabinet berths.
The new council of ministers includes several former ministers from the previous Modi government including Nitin Gadkari, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Sarbananda Sonowal, Virendra Kumar, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Jyotiradtiya Scindia, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupendra Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Annapurna Devi, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, G. Kishan Reddy, Rao Inderjeet Singh, and Arjun Ram Meghwal.
In the cabinet, the BJP has also accommodated its former chief ministers including Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Manohar Lal Khattar. With Dharmendra Pradhan being included in the Union cabinet, speculation has been put to rest about him being named the new Odisha chief minister. The BJP is set to form its first government in the state after it won 78 of the 147 seats in the Odisha assembly, ending over two decades of the Biju Janata Dal government under Naveen Patnaik who had been in power since 2000.
So far, not a single Muslim minister has been sworn in.
No cabinet berth for NCP
The BJP’s losses in India’s two largest states – Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra – were reflected in its selection of ministers. In Maharashtra, which saw party splits, name and symbol changes, and raids by central investigating agencies, Mahavikas Aghadi which included the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) won 30 out of the 48 seats in the state.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – the faction under Ajit Pawar – was denied a ministerial berth. Earlier on Sunday, deputy Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who had offered to resign after the election results, told reporters that a minister of state post had been offered to the NCP but they had refused.
“When a government is formed with an alliance some criteria need to be decided, because several sides are together. But because of one party, the criteria cannot be twisted. But, I am sure that in the future when there will be an expansion at that time they will be remembered at that time…They requested for a cabinet minister post,” he said.
Ajit Pawar, who split from his uncle, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, to join hands with the BJP and the NDA, too, said that since Praful Patel, who has served as a cabinet minister earlier, had been proposed as a minister of state, the party did not take the offer.
“Praful Patel has served as a cabinet minister in the central government and we did not feel right in taking Minister of State with independent charge. So we told them (BJP) that we are ready to wait for a few days, but we want a cabinet ministry,” he said.
Later Patel himself told reporters that the alliance is intact but that accepting a minister of state charge would be a “demotion” for him.
“Last night we were informed that our party will get a Minister of State with independent charge…I was earlier a Cabinet Minister in the Union Government, so this will be a demotion for me. We have informed the BJP leadership and they have already told us to just wait for a few days, they will take remedial measures.”
The BJP has given Shiv Sena’s Prataprao Jadhav charge as minister of state.
No cabinet berths for UP allies
In Uttar Pradesh where the party was handed its worst defeat in a decade, the BJP has given no cabinet berths to its allies the RJD and the Apna Dal (Soneylal). Both Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Anupriya Patel of the Apna Dal (Soneylal) have been given charge as ministers of state.
In the final tally the NDA (BJP and RLD) won only 36 seats in comparison to the INDIA bloc’s 43 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party alone won 37 seats, while the BJP won 33, the Congress 6, RLD 2 and Apna Dal (Soneylal) 1, and Azad Samaj Party 1.
