New Delhi: With 21 new faces inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi Council of Ministers on Sunday, the strength of his team now stands at 66. This is the first expansion since Modi took oath with 45 ministers on May 26.

Among those inducted, four hold Cabinet berths, three are Ministers of State with independent charge and 14 are Ministers of State. Former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, BJP leaders JP Nadda, Chaudhury Birender Singh and Shiv Sena's Suresh Prabhu took oath as Cabinet ministers. Prabhu was sworn in under the BJP quota.

The present induction also contradicts Modi's mantra of "more governance and less government".

Bandaru Dattatreya, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Dr Mahesh Sharma took oath as Minister of State with independent charge.

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Giriraj Kishore, Babul Supriyo, Jayant Sinha, YS Chowdhry, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Mohanbhai Kundaria, Ram Kripal Yadav, Sawar Lal Jat, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Vijay Sampla, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Ram Shankar Katheriya and Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhury were sworn in as Minister of State.

Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai was not sworn in as minister. Sources said the Sena was unwilling to accept the Minister of State rank for Desai. The party did not attend the swearing-in ceremony.

Sources said that the BJP was willing to give Anil Desai MoS rank, but this was rejected by Sena. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray called Desai and asked him to return.

The swearing-in ceremony was held at Darbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan and the oath of office and secrecy was administered by President Pranab Mukherjee.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and all the Cabinet ministers.
 
IBN