Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 7

Cabinet expansion | LIVE UPDATES:

* Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at Rashtrapati Bhavan for Cabinet expansion.

* President Ram Nath Kovind also arrives for the swearing-in ceremony.

* Maharashtra strongman Narayan Tatu Rane first to take oath as Cabinet Minister.

* Former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal takes oath as Cabinet Minister

Fifteen Cabinet ministers will be sworn in among 43 who are to take oath when Prime Minister Narendra Modi expands his cabinet at 6 pm when the swearing in ceremony will take place at Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Among the ministers who resigned ahead of the Cabinet expansion included Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar.

They are among 12 ministers who submitted their resignations to the President.

Among Cabinet rank ministers to take oath today will be former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, former Assam CM Sarbanand Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Anurag Thakur, G Kishan Reddy, Virendra Kumar (who served as pro tem speaker before Om Birla was elected in the 17th Lok Sabha), RK Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Pashupati Paras, Kiren Rijiju, Ramachandra Prasad Singh and Hardeep Puri.

Among the Cabinet ministers are current ministers or state and those with independent charge who are being elevated. These include Anurag Thakur, Reddy, RK Singh, Rupala, Puri, Mandaviya.

The list of all 43 ministers has been released by the government.

Earlier, Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and Ramesh Pokhriyal resigned ahead of the cabinet reshuffle.

The expanded Union cabinet is set to be sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Durbar Hall with only 50 invitations issued for Wednesday event amid Covid protocols.

President House sources said the ceremony would be curtailed on account of the pandemic.

Also read: Likely candidates meet Modi ahead of Union Cabinet reshuffle this evening

Government sources said the new cabinet would have an average age of 58, the lowest in the history of independent India.

There is likely to be the biggest representation for OBCs with sources saying 27 ministers would be from other backward castes, 12 from the SC and eight from the ST.

Earlier, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, MoS WCD Deboshree Chaudhary, and Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Sadanand Gowda resigned ahead of the cabinet expansion

“Among the 27 OBC ministers five are expected to get a cabinet berth, three from among the 12 SC ministers could land the cabinet berth and two from among eight STs could get the cabinet rank,” a source said.

It is learnt that there will in all be 11 women in the council of ministers by the end of the cabinet reshuffle and two would have a cabinet rank.

Government sources said four former chief ministers, 13 lawyers, seven past bureaucrats would be among ministers.

The expansion will see record representation for OBCs.

Among allies to be inducted are LJP (Pashupatinath Paras), JDU (RCP Singh and Lallan Singh), Apna Dal (Anupriya Patel), All Jharkhand Students Union.

“Fourteen ministers will be below 50 years of age, including six cabinet ministers,” said government sources.

There is an expectation of five ministers from the minority communities.

A major takeaway would be enhanced women’s representation in the cabinet with MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Sunita Duggal (Sirsa), Shobha Karandlaje, Pritam Munde among expected new entrants.