( May 26, 2014, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Narendra Modi has been sworn in as the fifteenth Prime Minister of India.
He will head a 45-member Union Council of Ministers, including 24 with Cabinet rank, informed sources said today.
The sources said that besides the cabinet ministers, there are likely to be 10 Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge and 11 MoS.
However, there was no official confirmation either from the Rashtrapati Bhavan or Gujarat Bhavan where Modi has been holding hectic parleys over government formation for the last few days.
The list of ministers without portfolios has been sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
BJP President Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, former BJP chiefs Nitin Gadkari and Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Ravishankar Prasad and Anant Geete( Shiv Sena) are among the likely cabinet ministers who are to take oath at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Sources say others who have received a call for the swearing-in are Sadananda Gowda, Uma Bharti, Najma Heptullah, Gopinath Munde, Kalraj Mishra, Maneka Gandhi, Ananth Kumar and Thawar Chand Gehlot.
Former Mahila wing chief Smriti Irani who took on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi is also likely to find a berth, besides Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan.
NDA allies including LJP's Ram Vilas Paswan and Shiromani Akali Dal's Harsimrat Badal are also likely to find a cabinet berth.
Others who are also likely to be part of Modi's Cabinet are Narendra Singh Tomar, Jual Oram and Radhamohan Singh.
Among those likely to be Ministers of State with independent charge are Rao Inderjit Singh, Gen (retd) V K Singh, Santosh Gangwar, Sripad Naik, Dharmendra Pradhan, Sarvanand Sonwal and Jitendra Singh.
Party treasurer Piyush Goel, spokespersons Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitharaman may be among those as MoS with independent charge, according to sources.
The MoS are G M Sidheswara, Manoj Sinha, Upendra Kushwaha, P Radhakrishan, Kiran Rijiju, Krishna Pal Gujjar, Sanjay Kumar Balyan, Mansukhbhai Vasava, Rao Saab Danve, Vishnu Dev Sai and Sudarshan Bhagat.
Sources say Modi will expand his cabinet in a few months.
They also added that said some senior party leaders including Amit Shah, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Rajiv Pratap Rudy did not make it to the list as they have been asked to undertake party work ahead of the assembly elections in some crucial states like Maharashtra and Haryana later this year.
With Rajnath Singh taking over as a minister, the post of party chief might be entrusted to someone else soon, it is learnt.
Sources say that the list sent to President Pranab Mukherjee by Narendra Modi has the following names:
Cabinet Minister Rajya Sabha
Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha MP from Vadodara and Varanasi
Rajnath Singh, Lok Sabha MP from Lucknow
Arun Jaitley, Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat
Sushma Swaraj, MP from Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh
Nitin Gadkari, MP from Nagpur, Maharashtra
Venkaiah Naidu, Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka
Sadananda Gowda, Lok Sabha MP from Bangalore North, Karnataka
Ram Vilas Paswan, LJP MP from Hajipur, Bihar
Gopinath Munde, Lok Sabha MP from Beed, Maharashtra
Kalraj Mishra, Lok Sabha MP from Deoria, UP
Maneka Gandhi, Lok Sabha MP from Pilibhit, UP
Ananth Kumar, Lok Sabha MP from Bangalore South, Karnataka
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar
Ashok Ganapathi Raju, TDP - AP
Ananth Geete, Shiv Sena, Maharashtra
Harsimrat Kaur, SAD, Punjab
Narendra Singh Tomar, MP from MP
Jual Oram, MP from Odisha
Thavarchand Gehlot, MP from MP
Smriti Irani, Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat
Uma Bharti, MP from UP
Najma Heptullah, Rajya Sabha
Radha Mohan Singh, RSS
Harsh Vardhan, Lok Sabha MP from Chandani Chowk, Delhi
Minister of State Rajya Sabha (Independent Charge): 10
General VK Singh, MP from UP
Santosh Gangwar, MP from MP
Sripad Naik, MP from Goa
Dharmendra Pradhan, Rajya Sabha member from Odisha
Sarbananda Sonowal, MP from Assam
Prakash Javadekar, from Maharashtra, not a Member of Parliament
Piyush Goel, Rajya Sabha member from Mumbai
Jitendra Singh, MP from MP
Nirmala Seetharaman, from TN/AP, not a Member of Parliament
Rao Inderjit, MP from Haryana
Minister of State Rajya Sabha
GM Siddeshwara, MP from Karnataka
Manoj Sinha, MP from UP
Upendra Kushwaha, MP from Bihar
Radhakrishnan P, MP from TN
Kiren Rijiju, MP from Arunachal Pradesh
Krishan Pal Gujar, MP, Haryana
Sanjeev Kumar, MP from UP
Balyan Mansukhbhai Baswa, MP from Gujarat
Rao Sahab Dhanwe,
Vishnudev Sai, MP Chhattisgarh
Sudarshan Bhagat, MP Jharkhand
 Narendra Modi has been sworn in as the fifteenth Pri...){kind=link}