6.19 pm: BJP Lok Sabha MP Kiren Rijiju takes oath. He previously held the post of Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs. Now, he has been promoted as a full Cabinet minister.

6.16 pm: Lok Janshakti Party chief Pashupati Kumar Paras takes oath as Cabinet minister. Paras, the brother of former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, is engaged in an inner-party feud with his nephew Chirag Paswan.

6.15 pm: BJP Rajya Sabha member Ashwini Vaishnaw inducted into the Union Cabinet.

6.14 pm: Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha member Ramchandra Prasad Singh takes oath.

6.12 pm: Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia takes oath as Cabinet minister. Scindia, a former Congress leader, had joined BJP in 2020. His defection led to the fall of Congress government in Madhya Pradesh.

6.11 pm: BJP MP from Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Virendra Kumar, takes oath as Cabinet minister.

6.07 pm: Former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal takes oath as Cabinet minister.

6.05 pm: Narayan Rane takes oath as Cabinet minister. Rane, a former Shiv Sena and Congress leader, joined the BJP in 2019 and is currently a Rajya Sabha member.

6.02 pm: President Ram Nath Kovind arrives at Durbar Hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan where the oath taking ceremony will take place.

5.59 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Rashtrapati Bhavan for oath taking ceremony of 43 ministers.

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5.48 pm: Here’s the list of all ministers who have resigned from the Union Cabinet:

5.36 pm: As many as 12 Union ministers, including Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar resign from Cabinet ahead of a reshuffle, says President Ram Nath Kovind’s secretariat.

5 pm: Lok Janshakti Party leader Chirag Paswan opposes inclusion of his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras in Modi’s new Cabinet, reports NDTV.

“Pashupati Kumar Paras has already been expelled from the Lok Janshakti Party for rebellion and cheating the top leadership,” says Paswan. “The party registers its strong reservation against his inclusion in the Central team of ministers.”

4.55 pm: Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge tells ANI that the Cabinet reshuffle is being done to distract citizens.

“Several Dalits, backward caste members are being made ministers,” he adds. “They are doing it from the point of polls. They are not doing this for welfare of communities but because of their compulsion.”

4.47 pm: Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh says Harsh Vardhan was made a scapegoat for “monumental failures” at the highest level.

His colleague P Chidambaram says Vardhan’s resignation is Modi government’s acceptance that it has “utterly failed” to tackle the coronavirus crisis. Reports are saying that Minister of State for Health Ashwini Chaube has also resigned, but there is no official confirmation yet.

4.42 pm: Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala says Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be sacked ahead of the Cabinet rejig, reports India Today.

“The Cabinet rejig is an eyewash,” he adds. “This is a defectors’ adjustment exercise.”

4.39 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says removal of Babul Supriyo from the Council of Ministers shows that “they [the BJP government] have also lost it even before the arrival of their end” in 2024, reports PTI.

4.35 pm: All India Institute Of Medical Science chief Randeep Guleria dismisses speculation that he is in line to be the country’s next health minister, reports News18.

Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan resigned from his post. This came as the Modi government is facing severe criticism of its handling of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

4.22 pm: A total of 43 leaders are expected to take oath as ministers in the Union Cabinet, reports ANI.

4.06 pm: Pratap Chandra Sarangi quits as Minister of State of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries and micro, small and medium enterprises, reports Prasar Bharati.

3.37 pm: Union Minister of State for Environment Babul Supriyo has resigned from his post, the BJP leader has confirmed in a Facebook post.

3 pm: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has resigned ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle, reports ANI. However, there has been no official confirmation on this.

2.55 pm: A meeting with politicians at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official residence has concluded, reports ANI. Several leaders from different political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, met the prime minister.

2.50 pm: Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar has resigned from his position ahead of the re-arrangement in the Cabinet, reports DD News.

2.45 pm: Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal resigns ahead of Cabinet reshuffle, reports DD News.

2.40 pm: A reshuffle of posts in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet will take place at 6 pm on Wednesday, reports DD News. This is the first time such an exercise will take place since Modi assumed office for a second term in May 2019.

Currently, there are several positions vacant in the Cabinet. Some of them were left empty after the death of Lok Janshakti Party founder Ramvilas Paswan and the exit of the Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal from the National Democratic Alliance. Four Union ministers hold additional charges of five ministries.

The Centre had on Tuesday created a new portfolio called the Ministry of Cooperation. The reshuffle on Wednesday is likely to see appointments to this new ministry.

2.30 pm: On Tuesday, former Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gehlot was appointed the governor of Karnataka. Seven others were appointed as governors of different areas in a reshuffle.

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Union minister Thawarchand Gehlot appointed Karnataka governor in reshuffle