NDA govt starts Term 3 with 72 members,9 short of maximum limit

Narendra Modi took oath for a third consecutive term as Prime Minister, along with 72 ministers, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. With this milestone, Narendra Modi equalled the feat of Jawaharlal Nehru, who won three straight terms as India's first Prime Minister..it is only nine short of the maximum permissible strength of 81 and six less than the maximum of 78 ministers the Modi government had between 2019 and 2024. 30 cabinet ministers, 36 ministers of state (MoS), 5 MoS (independent charge) also took oath of office. Six former chief ministers were sworn in as ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Manohar Lal Khattar, HD Kumaraswamy, Jitan Ram Manjhi and Sarbanand Sonowal.A host of BJP allies were given space in the Cabinet. HD Kumaraswamy, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Chirag Paswan became Cabinet ministers.Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, who is the first BJP MP from Kerala and Harsh Malhotra, who won Lok Sabha polls from East Delhi, are among the first-time MPs in the Union Cabinet.
The Council of Ministers will have a broad representation of social groups, including 27 Other Backward Classes (OBC), ten Scheduled Castes (SC), five Scheduled Tribes (ST), and five minorities. A record 18 senior Ministers will be heading major ministries. There were also a few notable names missing from the new Cabinet.37 ministers from the previous Modi government have been dropped from the council of ministers. Seven of these ministers held the Cabinet rank, including Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur and Narayan Rane. Among the notable names who were dropped as ministers are Arjun Munda, Parshottam Rupala, Mahendra Nath Pandey, RK Singh, Kailash Choudhary, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Faggansingh Kulaste, VK Singh, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti , Rajeev Chandrasekhar, V Muraleedharan and Meenakashi Lekhi.
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have the highest number of leaders in Modi's council of ministers. Four ministers out of total 8 from Bihar have got Cabinet rank. Uttar Pradesh got nine berths, including one in the Cabinet (Rajnath Singh). Maharashtra, which goes to the assembly polls in October, has its six MPs in the council of ministers.
Several leaders from neighbouring countries and the Indian Ocean region attended the swearing-in ceremony. President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Maldives Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, Vice-President of Seychelles Ahmed Afif, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay attended the ceremony.