TAKING CHARGE

The NDA 3.0 Council of Ministers is larger than in its last two terms, but there is enough continuity

- SURABHI & RICHA SHARMA

IN A BREAK from the past two terms and indicating the changed dynamics, as many as 71 ministers (excluding the Prime Minister) were sworn into the Council of Ministers of the National Democratic Alliance government headed by PM Narendra Modi. These include 30 Cabinet ministers, five Ministers of State with independent charge, and 36 Ministers of State.

In the first term of the NDA government, 46 ministers were sworn in, and 58 in the second. The Council was, however, expanded in the middle of those terms, and that could hold for NDA 3.0, too, given the compulsions of a coalition government. The Council can have a maximum of 81 ministers, including the PM.

However, with its 240-seat strength in the Lok Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party has retained key ministries including home, finance, defence, external affairs, agriculture, commerce and industry, railways, and roads and highways.

Allies such as the Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Janata Dal (Secular) have also been given allocated portfolios like Civil Aviation, Panchayati Raj and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, and Heavy Industries and Steel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has retained the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions; the Department of Atomic Energy; and the Department of Space. Other allies, including the Apna Dal, Shiv Sena, and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), have got Ministers of State portfolios.