PM Modi to rely on experience for new cabinet, allies introduce fresh faces

Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi after paying tribute at the National War Memorial/ PTI

Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi plans to indicate continuity in his new term by retaining the most important members of his outgoing administration in the new Council of Ministers, which will be sworn in on Sunday evening. Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, and S Jaishankar, who previously held the portfolios for home, defence, finance, and external affairs, will all return. Other senior members, including Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Hardeep Singh Puri, are anticipated to continue in their positions, reported ANI.

According to the report, although the majority of outgoing ministers have been retained, prominent absences include Anurag Thakur, who was not invited to meet Modi before the swearing-in, and Smriti Irani, who suffered a big defeat in Amethi. Parshottam Rupala, whose inflammatory remarks during the polls sparked a debate, is also unlikely to be included in the new cabinet. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who lost to Shashi Tharoor in a tight race, will also be excluded.

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The majority of the new cabinet members will be BJP allies. These include TDP's Ram Mohan Naidu and Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, JD(U)'s Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, and Shiv Sena's Prataprao Jadhav. Other members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) include Chirag Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, HD Kumaraswamy, Jayant Chaudhary, and Ramdas Athawale and Anupriya Patel will also take the oath, the report added.

Several BJP leaders, including Manohar Lal Khattar, CR Patil, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, and Ravneet Singh Bittu, are expected to join the Union Council of Ministers. Outgoing ministers from the BJP, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Bhupender Yadav, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jitendra Singh, S P S Baghel, Annapurna Devi, Virendra Kumar, Pankaj Chaudhary, Shobha Karandlaje, Krishna Pal Gurjar, and L Murugan, will also take oath, the ANI report further stated.

Other significant names anticipated to join the new government include G Kishan Reddy, Sukanta Majumdar, Rao Inderjit Singh, Nityanand Rai, Bhagirath Choudhary, Jitin Prasada, and Raksha Khadse. There is talk that BJP national president J P Nadda, whose extended term expires this month, may possibly rejoin the cabinet.

The appointment of Ravneet Singh Bittu, notwithstanding his defeat in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, demonstrates the BJP's aim to enhance its position in Punjab. Sanjay Seth from Ranchi and former Union Minister Jual Oram from Odisha are also slated to take the oath, the ANI report added.