In a grand ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan last evening, apart from PM Modi, 24 Cabinet Ministers, 9 Ministers of State with independent charge, and 24 Ministers of State have been inducted in the ministry. The total strength of the union government is 58.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new cabinet has several first-timers, there are few ministers from the 1st term who have not been included.
Among those missing from the Modi’s refurbished Union cabinet, the two prominent faces are that of Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, both having opted out of the government citing health reasons.
Sushma Swaraj took to Twitter to congratulate PM Modi on his ongoing journey and thanked him for giving her the opportunity to serve people, both Indians and non-resident Indians and for the respect and courtesy extended to her during the last five years.
प्रधान मंत्री जी – आपने 5 वर्षों तक मुझे विदेश मंत्री के तौर पर देशवासियों और प्रवासी भारतीयों की सेवा करने का मौका दिया और पूरे कार्यकाल में व्यक्तिगत तौर पर भी बहुत सम्मान दिया. मैं आपके प्रति बहुत आभारी हूँ. हमारी सरकार बहुत यशस्विता से चले, प्रभु से मेरी यही प्रार्थना है.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 30, 2019
Sushma Swaraj who sat in the audience to watch PM Modi and his 57-member team take the oath of office and secrecy had changed her Twitter bio to reflect her exit from the government just moments before tweeting her note to the PM.
Arun Jaitley, the Minister of finance and corporate affairs in Modi’s 1.0 cabinet also congratulated PM Modi on taking oath for the second time as the Prime Minister of India and wished all the council of ministers inducted in the Union Council of Minister’s, good luck.
Congratulations to Sh.@narendramodi ji on taking oath for the second time as the Prime Minister of India. I wish the very best to all the members inducted in the Union Council of Ministers. India is moving steadfast on the path of progress under leadership of PM @narendramodi ji.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) May 30, 2019
Meanwhile, Uma Bharati, another Union minister in the previous government, also decided not to contest Lok Sabha elections and was also not included in the new cabinet.
Apart from these, there were many surprises in omissions:
Menaka Gandhi: The women and child development minister in the previous government was not included in the newly inducted cabinet.
Jayant Sinha: As MoS in the previous government, Jayant Sinha handled finance and civil aviation portfolios.
Suresh Prabhu: The Minister of Civil Aviation in the previous government was also given a miss.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore: A former soldier and Olympic medal winner, Rathore was handling that sports and also of information and broadcasting in the previous government.
Radha Mohan Singh: Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in Modi 1.0 was also dropped by Modi.
Jagat Prakash Nadda: Though in the previous government, JP Nadda maintained a low profile but handled the portfolio of health-implementing initiatives of PM Modi in the sector. Considered to be a strong organisational leader, Nadda is tipped to be Amit Shah’s successor as the BJP president.
Anant Kumar Hegde: Hegde, who won the Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency by over 4 lakh votes and held skill development portfolio in previous government has been dropped too.
Manoj Singh: He was Minister of Communications (independent charge) and Minister of State (MoS), Railways in the previous government. Sinha’s defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Gazipur constituency, Uttar Pradesh, is being attributed to him being given a miss from the newly inducted cabinet.
Anupriya Patel: As an MoS in the health and family welfare ministry, she failed to make a distinct mark during the five years of the previous government.
Among others who were dropped in the new cabinet are Jual Oram of the BJP and Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena.
Meanwhile, the portfolios of the ministers who have found space in the new cabinet will be announced later.
