Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Narendra Singh Tomar among others to take oath tomorrow: After the BJP-led NDA’s resounding victory over Congress in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked elected MPs not to give ear to rumours on induction of new cabinet ministers ahead of the high-profile swearing-in ceremony. Though lists carrying the name of would-be MPs started doing rounds on the social media but the BJP has not confirmed the same. PM Modi and BJP president Amit Shah today held discussions for three hours on who will be inducted in the Union cabinet.
Reports quoting sources said that the BJP alliance partners JDU-led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena-led Uddhav Thackeray will also get two each ministerial berth.
On Wednesday, senior BJP leader and former finance minister Arun Jaitley wrote a letter PM Modi asking him to excuse him in the new cabinet citing health issues. In a letter, Jaitley said that it was a matter of pride for him to be a part of NDA government for the last five years. The finance minister formally requested PM Modi that he should be allowed a reasonable time for himself, his treatment and health and therefore, not be a part of any responsibility, for the present, in the new government.
After writing a four-paragraph letter, PM Modi met the finance minister at his residence on Krishna Menon Marg on Wednesday evening. It is not clear what PM Modi and Jaitley discussed but the former is expected to have asked the finance minister to reconsider his decision.
Meanwhile, there will be the induction of new faces in the cabinet from all across the states which BJP swept. These include Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana. New faces will be also inducted from West Bengal where BJP won 18 parliamentary seats out of 42.
The BJP is still tight-lipped about the council of ministers but several names of Union ministers have come forward who are due to take oath tomorrow. These include Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Narendra Singh Tomar, besides Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj. These seven parliamentarians will take oath as Union ministers when PM Modi will be sworn in as the prime minister for the second consecutive term on May 30. Reports said that the senior BJP leaders have received official confirmation. There will be a high-profile ceremony in which national and world leaders will join at the presidential palace Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
