Union Cabinet expanded, 21 take oath

New Delhi: Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and three others were on Sunday inducted into the Union Cabinet as Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded his Council of Ministers, bringing in 21 new ministers as Shiv Sena kept away from the exercise.

Suresh Prabhu, a former Shiv Sainik and Power minister in Vajpayee government, senior BJP leader J P Nadda and Jat leader from Haryana Birender Singh, who joined BJP ahead of Assembly elections, were the other Cabinet ministers to take oath of office and secrecy at a function in the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Unresolved issues between Sena and BJP in Maharashtra stopped Sena MP Anil Desai from taking oath as he reportedly returned to Mumbai from the airport after arriving here today morning.

Bandaru Dattatreya and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who were ministers in the Vajpayee government, and Mahesh Sharma, newly-elected MP from Gautam Buddh Nagar bordering Delhi, were sworn-in as Ministers of State with Independent Charge.

14 other Ministers of State were sworn-in. They are Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Ram Kripal Yadav, Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, Sanwar Lal Jat and Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya Giriraj Singh, Hansraj Ahir, Ram Shankar Katheria, Jayant Sinha, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Babul Supriyo, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Vijay Sampla (all BJP) and Y S Chowdary, a Rajya Sabha member from TDP.