Union Ministers S Jaishankar and Ashwini Vaishnaw today took charge of the External Affairs and Railways ministries, two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the oath of office for a record third term along with 71 ministers in a new coalition government.
The four top ministries are unchanged in PM Modi's new cabinet - Amit Shah retains the Home Ministry, Rajnath Singh Defence, S Jaishankar stays Foreign minister and Nirmala Sitharaman keeps Finance.
"Assumed charge as the Minister of External Affairs. Thank PM @narendramodi for assigning me this responsibility," S Jaishankar posted on X - formerly known as Twitter - after taking charge as the External Affairs Minister for the second consecutive term.
Ashwini Vaishnaw has retained Railways Ministry, a key portfolio in the Cabinet. He has been given an additional charge as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Anurag Thakur, the BJP MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, was the I&B minister in the previous term.
Mr Vaishnaw has also retained the Ministry of Information and Technology.
Bhupender Yadav also took charge as the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change today.
After taking charge, Mr Vaishnaw thanked PM Modi and said the Prime Minister has an "emotional connect" with the Railways. "People have blessed PM Modi again to serve the country. Railways will have a very big role. In the last 10 years, PM Narendra Modi has done a lot of reforms in Railways," Mr Vaishnaw said while speaking to reporters at his office.
The Council of Ministers comprises 30 Cabinet Ministers, five Ministers of State with Independent Charge, and 36 Ministers of State.
In this new cabinet, significant representation has been given to states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with Bihar securing four cabinet spots and Uttar Pradesh getting nine ministers. Forty-two ministers are from the Other Backward Class (OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC), and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities.
PM Modi, 73, will head a coalition government for the first time since he became Prime Minister in 2014 after 10 years of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule.
He is the second Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to be elected for a third term in a row.
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