9 new ministers join Modi government, 4 promoted to Cabinet ministry

New Delhi: Four Union ministers were promoted to Cabinet rank and nine new ministers were sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday.

All of the nine ministers are members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The rejig in the Union Cabinet is the third since 2014 after Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, power minister Piyush Goyal, Minister of State at commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were sworn in and promoted to Cabinet rank.

The promotion of Naqvi, Pradhan, Sitharaman and Goyal, who were all State Ministers with independent charge, is an endorsement of their good performance, reported PTI.

Former Foreign Service officer Hardeep Puri and former IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam are not members of the Parliament.

The other seven to join Narendra Modi's council of ministers are Uttara Kannada MP Anantkumar Hegde, former home secretary and Arrah MP RK Singh, Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh, former Mumbai police commissioner and Baghpat MP Satya Pal Singh, Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh Shiv Pratap Shukla, Buxar MP Ashwini Chaubey and Tikamgarh MP Virendra Kumar.

"Experience and wisdom of all those who have taken oath today will add immense value to the Council of Ministers," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted after the ceremony ended.

The selection of nine new names for ministership has been done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi keeping in view the 4Ps – passion, proficiency, professional and political acumen, to deliver on his vision of a "new India", reported PTI.

Shiv Sena, BJP's ally in Maharashtra and Janata Dal (United), their ally in Bihar did not partake in the oath taking ceremony which took place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan at 10:30 am on Sunday.

The announcement of portfolios to various ministers is yet to be made.