New Delhi: Following his election as the leader of twelve political parties led by the ruling BJP, Narendra Modi took the oath of office as Prime Minister for a record third term on Sunday. Though he would have to share power with his partners this time, he is only the second prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power three times in a row. A number of important BJP allies, including JDU, TDP, Shiv Sena, LJP, and others, have been appointed as ministers.
On Sunday, PM Modi took the oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan along with 71 other ministers. Thirty-six ministers of state, five ministers of state with independent authority, and thirty cabinet ministers were among them. Of them, eleven are from the alliance partners who are not the BJP. Specifics of who gets what portfolio are not known yet.
Here’s a look at non-BJP leaders who have taken oath as ministers yesterday:
Cabinet ministers
The leader of the Janata Dal (Secular) party, HD Kumaraswamy (JDS), is the son of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. When he led a coalition government with the BJP in 2006, he was initially appointed Chief Minister of Karnataka. In 2018, he reclaimed the top position by forming a coalition government with the Congress.
HAM, or Jitan Ram Manjhi: The Dalit leader, who has been an MLA since 1980, was chief minister of Bihar from 2014 to 2015. The first chief minister to come from the Musahar community in the state was the head of Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). He has held ministerial positions under various chief ministers in Bihar and has affiliations with numerous political parties.
Singh Rajiv Ranjan Lalan Singh (JDU): The Bhumihar politician, also referred to as Lalan Singh, has long been one of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s closest allies. Lalan Singh, who was coached by socialist luminary Karpoori Thakur, was instrumental in bringing the JDU-RJD coalition together in 2022.
The young Bihar politician Chirag Paswan (LJPRV) is in charge of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which has five Lok Sabha seats under its belt. Although the former actor has served in the Parliament twice before, this is his first stint in the Union cabinet. Ram Vilas Paswan, who oversaw the ministry of consumer affairs till his passing in 2020, is the father of Chirag.
Ministers of State (Independent charge)
Jayant Chaudhary (RLD): Prior to joining Modi 3.0, Mr. Chaudhary was a political adversary of the BJP. However, in March, he allied his Rashtriya Lok Dal with the NDA. The highest civilian honor in India, the Bharat Ratna, was recently bestowed upon the grandson of former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav is the sole member of the Union Council of Ministers representing the Shiv Sena, which is led by Eknath Shinde. During the administrations of Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane of Maharashtra, the four-time MP held the position of minister of state.
Ministers of State
Ramdas Athawale (RPIA): He is the leader of the Republican Party of India – Athawale, a political organization rooted on BR Ambedkar’s Scheduled Castes Federation. In the previous Modi ministry, he served as the Union Minister of State for Social Justice.
Ram Nath Thakur (JDU): Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United is led by Ram Nath Thakur. He is the son of Karpoori Thakur, the recently-awarded Bharat Ratna chief minister of Bihar. He belongs to the Rajya Sabha.
Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal Soneylal): Her father Sone Lal Patel founded the Apna Dal (Soneylal), a breakaway faction of Apna Dal, which is led by the delegate from Mirzapur. In the previous two Modi cabinets, Ms. Patel served as a Minister of State in the ministries of commerce and health.
The wealthiest candidate to emerge victorious in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani (TDP). In 2020, the US-based Telugu Desam Party leader who won the Guntur Lok Sabha seat was recognized as a young entrepreneur by the Ernst and Young Award.
