Honoured to serve India, will work for country`s progress: PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Minutes ahead of taking oath as the prime minister of India for the second consecutive term on Thursday, PM Narendra Modi said that he was ''honoured to serve India.''

PM Modi took to Twitter and tweeted, “Honoured to serve India.”

PM Modi also urged his followers on Twitter to watch the oath ceremony at the forecourt of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan.

After the conclusion of the swearing-in ceremony, PM Modi congratulated his Council of Ministers. ''Congratulations to all those who took oath today. This team is a blend of youthful energy and administrative experience. It has people who have excelled as Parliamentarians and those who have had distinguished professional careers,'' PM tweeted. 

In the evening, PM Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony. 

After PM Modi, several others, including BJP president Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar, took oath as ministers.

Apart from Shah, Singh, Gadkari, the other top leaders who were sworn-in as cabinet ministers included DV Sadananda Gowda, Nirmala Sitharaman and Ram Vilas Paswan.

While the inclusion of Shah, seen as BJP's key strategist who helped the party to expand its base after taking over the reins of the party in 2014, was much speculated, Jaishankar, considered close to PM Modi, was a surprise pick.

Some of the key ministers in the previous Modi government, including Sushma Swaraj, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Maneka Gandhi were not part of the new Council of Ministers.

Former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had written to PM Modi on Wednesday and said that he didn't want to be a part of the new government due to health reasons.

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. 

Others who took oath of office as cabinet ministers are - Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Thanwar Chand Gehlot, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Arjun Munda, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Prahlad Joshi, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Arvind Sawant, Giriraj Singh and Gajendra Shekhawat.

Those who took oath as Minister of State with independent charge are - Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Rao Inderjit Singh, Shripad Yesso Naik, Jitendra Singh Kiren Rijiju, Prahalad Singh Patel, Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri Mansukh L Mandaviya.

Those who were sworn-in as Minister of State are - Faggan Singh Kulaste, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Arjun Ram Meghwal, V K Singh, Krishan Pal, Danve Raosaheb Dadarao, G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala, Ramdas Athawale, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Babul Supriyo, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Anurag Singh Thakur, Angadi Suresh Channabasappa, Nityanand Rai, Rattan Lal Kataria, V Muraleedharan, Renuka Singh Saruta, Som Parkash, Rameswar Teli, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Kailash Choudhary, Debasree Chaudhuri.

There are 24 cabinet ministers and a total of 33 MoS out of which nine have been given independent charge. PM Modi can have as many as 80 ministers in the 543-member Lok Sabha. As per the Constitution, the total number of Union ministers, including the Prime Minister shall not exceed 15 per cent of the number of members in the Lok Sabha.

(With Agency Inputs)