PM Modi held a virtual meeting with the new cabinet. (File)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting of the new cabinet on Thursday, the first after the unveiling a revamped council of ministers a day ago. His overhauled cabinet now includes 30 ministers while the council includes 77 in all.
The first meeting of the new cabinet began at 5 pm. PM Modi will also chair a meeting of the council of ministers at 7 pm.
PM Modi on Wednesday appointed new ministers for health, IT and oil as part of a reshuffle in a bid to reinvigorate his government amid fierce criticism of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and other quarters.
He appointed Mansukh Laxman Mandaviya as the country's new health minister just hours after Harsh Vardhan, who was the face of the government's efforts to fight COVID-19, was asked to step down along with his deputy.
Official sources said Mr Vardhan had to pay the political price for the government's struggles to cope with a devastating second wave of coronavirus infections.
PM Modi's government has faced sharp criticism for the chaotic rollout of a nationwide immunisation campaign that experts say had worsened the impact of the second wave, killing hundreds of thousands.
The official count of deaths after a surge in COVID-19 infections in April and May passed 400,000 last week. Experts believe the actual number may be much higher and there are fears of a third wave soon. Millions remain unvaccinated.
Several members of the ruling BJP and a few from allies were sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to replace 12 ministers that were fired in the first cabinet reshuffle since PM Modi was re-elected in 2019 on a promise to transform India into a political and economic power.
Opposition leader P Chidambaram said the removal of the health minister and his deputy was an acknowledgement that the Modi government had failed in managing the pandemic but the buck should stop with PM Modi.
"There is a lesson for ministers in these resignations. If things go right the credit will go to the PM, if things go wrong the minister will be the fall guy," he said.
PM Modi retained his core team at the foreign, finance, home and defence departments even though the economy is in a deep recession and there are widespread concerns that a surge in COVID-19 infections will stall economic recovery.
The reshuffle also came after the defeat of the BJP in April elections in key West Bengal and ahead of another major test of PM Modi's popularity in state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand in February and March next year, which may prove to be a bellwether for his party in 2024 national elections.