Modi takes oath for 3rd term as PM, allies get 5 cabinet berths

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose continuity over radical change on Sunday, placing his trust in top lieutenants Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, S. Jaishankar and Piyush Goyal for the Union cabinet. Key allies Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) secured one cabinet post each, as Modi took charge as prime minister for a third consecutive time, where he will head a coalition government.

Apart from TDP and JD(U), other allies in the National Democratic Alliance who have secured cabinet posts include TDP, JD(U), Janata Dal (Secular), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Lok Janshakti Party.

Nearly 9,000 people were estimated to be present at the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhavan for Sunday's event, attended by politicians, businessmen, and celebrities. Those present on the occasion included vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar.

Among top ministers who continue in the cabinet, Goyal contested and won for the first time from the Mumbai (North) constituency, while Sitharaman and Jaishankar did not contest the election and are members of the Rajya Sabha.

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Two of the party's former chief ministers—Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh and Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana—also lend firepower to the new cabinet, which sees the return of BJP president J.P. Nadda as well. Nadda's new role also opens up the post for a new president for Bharatiya Janata Party, still the country's largest party despite losing its majority in the latest Lok Sabha election.

The cabinet has 30 ministers, excluding the Prime Minister. Further, five ministers of state (independent charge) and 36 ministers of state took oath on Sunday.

In the new cabinet with a total of 31 ministers, 19 were part of the previous government. Dharmendra Pradhan, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, Sarbananda Sonowal, Virendra Kumar, Pralhad Joshi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Bhupendra Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kiren Rijiju, G. Kishan Reddy and Annapurna Devi have made it to cabinet. Among them, Puri and Vaishnaw are members of the Upper House and held the petroleum and natural gas, housing and urban affairs and railways, telecom and IT respectively in the previous government.

Jual Oram of BJP, who was Union minister for tribal affairs in the first Modi government, has returned to the cabinet; with his induction, there are three new faces from Odisha, along with Pradhan and Vaishnaw, where BJP swept elections for the first time, and is also set to form the government after decimating the Biju Janata Dal which governed the state for around 25 years.

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JD(U)'s Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh, who was chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on energy in the 17 Lok Sabha, took oath as a cabinet minister on Sunday. TDP's Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, MP from Srikakulam, has also been inducted as a cabinet minister. Naidu, 36, is the son of former Cabinet minister K. Yerran Naidu.

Chirag Paswan, national president of Lok Janshakti Party which put up a robust performance in the Lok Sabha election, winning all the five seats it contested, also joined as a cabinet minister. Chirag Paswan is the son of the former cabinet minister Ram Vilas Paswan and founder of the LJP.

Jitan Ram Manjhi, leader of Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), which won one seat in this general election, also bagged a cabinet berth. So did H.D. Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal (Secular).

The latest Modi cabinet is much larger compared to the previous two NDA cabinets to accommodate the allies who are expected to play bigger role in this NDA government given that BJP has been unable to cross the majority mark on its own. With the new government in place, work would now start on the policy and on framing a full-fledged Union budget for FY25. With a weaker NDA government returning to power and no majority for the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party on its own, some of the ambitious major reform measures of the government may move to the slow lane.

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However, given the record of the NDA over the past 10 years, some of the next-generation structural reforms are expected to continue, and along with it welfare economics may receive a new focus, in a bid to cater to the demand of the allies.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the Modi government, if voted back of power, intends to usher in next-generation structural reforms in all factors of production including land, labour, capital and digital public infrastructure to spur inclusive growth. This is the direction that the government is expected to take in its first few months. However, given the compulsion of a coalition government, the pace of these reform measures will have to be watched.

Measures missed out in previous terms include land reforms to ease land availability and acquisition for industry while ensuring a proper compensation mechanism to landowners; and already introduced labour codes that may be implemented allowing flexibility in movement of workforce and generate more employment.

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The 100-day agenda, which may be rolled out soon, may include 50-70 important goals and recommendations to establish the tone and intent of the new government, including those that have the highest priority, targets by Union and state ministers, and long-term targets with a rollout plan for the next 2-3 years. However, with the results being quite different from what the BJP had expected and exit polls had suggested, the 100-day agenda of the government may also be tweaked.

Further, with allies like TDP seeking a relook in the controversial Agnipath scheme, which has drawn a lot of flak from the opposition, the policy front may become more consultative.