NEW DELHI: Narendra Modi was today sworn in as Prime Minister of India for the third consecutive term. President Droupadi Murmu administered the Oath of Office and Secrecy to Mr Modi along with the members of the new Council of Ministers at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhawan. During the Swearing-in Ceremony, 31 Cabinet Ministers, five Ministers of State( Independent Charge) and thirty-six Ministers of State took oath.

Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Dr S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman and BJP President J P Nadda took oath as Cabinet Ministers. Senior Party leaders Kiren Rijiu, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Bhupender Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Annapurna Devi, Hardeep Singh Puri, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, G Kishen Reddy and C R Patil, Dr Virendra Kumar and Jual Oram also took oath as Cabinet Ministers. Former Chief Ministers Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Manohar Lal and Sarbanand Sonowal were also administered oath as Cabinet Ministers. Besides, former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) MP H.D. Kumaraswamy, former Bihar Chief Minister and HAM party chief Jiten Ram Manjhi, JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh, TDP MP Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu and LJP (Ramvilas ) Chief Chirag Paswan, were among others who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. BJP leaders Rao Inderjit Singh, Dr Jitendra Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal as well as Prataprao Jadhav of Shiv Sena and RLD Chief Jayant Chaudhary took oath as Ministers of State ( Independent Charge).

During the ceremony, 36 Ministers of State also took oath. They include BJP MPs Jitin Prasad , Shripad Yesso Naik, Pankaj Chaudhary, Nityanad Rai, Krishan Pal, V Somanna, S P Singh Baghel and Shobha Karandlaje, Suresh Gopi. Raksha Khadse, Ajya Tamta, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Kamlesh Paswan, Harsh Malhotra, Satish Dubey and Ravneet Sing Bittu as well as RPI’s Ramdas Athawale, Ramanth Thakur of JD(U), Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal(S) and TDP’s Dr. Pemmasani Chandrasekhar.

Several leaders from neighbouring countries and the Indian Ocean region attended the swearing-in ceremony. President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Maldives Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay attended the ceremony.

Several dignitaries including Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chief Justice of India Dr D.Y. Chandrachud, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister-designate N Chandrababu Naidu, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar attended the meeting. Besides, actors Rajnikanth, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Vikrant Massey, film-maker Rajkumar Hirani, business tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani were also among those who attended the event.

Source: AIR