19 new ministers inducted in Modi's Cabinet

Nineteen new leaders were inducted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet on Tuesday at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The first minister to take oath in the new Cabinet was BJP leader Prakash Javadekar. He is also the Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change. He is the only leader who was elevated to the Cabinet rank in today's oath-taking ceremony.

Senior BJP leader SS Ahluwalia was next to take oath, he is also the party's National vice-president and represents the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency.

Other members who were inducted in the Cabinet were P P Chaudhary (BJP), who is a senior Supreme Court advocate with over four decades of experience in constitutional litigation, Subhash Ram Rao Bhamre (BJP), a well-known doctor with a super specialisation in cancer surgery and M J Akbar (BJP) is a well-known journalist turned politician.

Arjun Ram Meghwal is a former bureaucrat from Rajasthan and Anil Madhav Dave is a published author and environmental activist. Faggan Singh Kulaste and Vijay Goel have been central ministers, while Ramesh Jigajinagi, Purshotam Rupala, Jasvantsinh Bhabhor and



Mahendra Nath Pandey have served as senior ministers in their states. They are all BJP leaders.

There is also fresh, young talent in Apna Dal's Anupriya Patel, 35, and the BJP's Mansukh Mandaviya (BJP), who has worked in the agriculture sector in Gujarat.

The state of Rajasthan gained maximum representation in the Cabinet with four new faces from the state given berths. Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls next year was also given boost as three MPs from the state made it to the powerful group of ministers.

The leaders who took oath on Tuesday as new ministers at the Centre, were picked after an exhaustive vetting and selection process to find the best talent, sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the expansion of his council of ministers will reflect "budget focus and priorities".

Hectic parley were held in the national capital in the past few days to discuss the changes to be made to the current cabinet.

Prime Minister Narendra had held consultations on the cabinet reshuffle with senior party colleagues including BJP chief Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.