The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was administered oath in glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday evening. On the occasion 33 first-timers found their way into the council of ministers alongside the experienced hands.
Out of the 33 first-timers who took oath as ministers in new NDA government, at least six of them hail from well-known political families.
Also, some political bigwigs found their way into the Council of Ministers. The names included three former chief ministers—Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
Seven first-time ministers in the Modi government belong to the allies: TDP's K Rammohan Naidu and Chandrasekhar Pemmasani; JDU's Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, RLD's Jayant Chaudhary, LJP's Chirag Paswan and HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S).
The new faces also include Suresh Gopi, the actor-turned-politician who scripted history by becoming the first BJP MP from Kerala.
Besides, Ravneet Singh Bittu who is the grandson of Punjab's former Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated by a Khalistani militant organisation in 1995, is a new entrant to the Modi ministry. Also, Raksha Khadse, the daughter-in-law of senior NCP leader Eknath Khadse, who played a key role in building the BJP in Maharashtra, was sworn in as Union minister.
From being one of the youngest ministers in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, Jitin Prasada will return to the Union Council of Ministers after 10 years. His father Jitendra Prasada, a former vice-president of the Congress, served as political advisor to two prime ministers -- Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and P V Narasimha Rao in 1994.
A trusted friend of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan, popularly known as Lalan Singh, who represents the Munger Lok Sabha seat in Bihar along found his way in the new NDA government.
The first-timers from the BJP are Kamlesh Paswan (Uttar Pradesh), Sukanta Majumder (West Bengal), Durga Das Uikey (Madhya Pradesh), Raj Bhushan Chaudhary (Bihar), Satish Dubey (Bihar), Sanjay Seth (Jharkhand), C R Paatil (Gujarat), Bhagirath Chaudhary (Rajasthan), Harsh Malhotra (Delhi), V Somanna (Karnataka), Savitri Thakur (MP).
Kamaljeet Sehrawat (Delhi), Prataprao Jadhav (Maharashtra), George Kurian (Kerala), Kirti Vardhan Singh (UP), Tokhan Sahu (Chhattisgarh), Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma (Andhra Pradesh), Nimuben Bambhniya (Gujarat), Murlidhar Mohol (Maharashtra), Pabitra Margherita (Assam) and Bandi Sanjay Kumar (Telangana), are also among the BJP first-timers.
Big names who again found their way into the Council of Ministers included: Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Bhupender Yadav and Kiren Rijiju.
