The portfolios are yet to arrive, but the first key takeaway from the new cabinet is the political imperative of a coalition government. This is reflected in the BJP-led NDA government’s third tenure of 72 ministers on Sunday, compared to 45 in 2014 and 57 in 2019.
With the support of key allies to overcome the majority in 2024, their representation in the Council of Ministers has doubled to 11 (of which five are of cabinet status) compared to just five (four cabinet) ministers in 2014. Three Cabinet) Ministers in 2019.
After a simple majority in 2014, Modi said the government had no business engaging in business and should focus on minimum government but maximum governance. The Council of Ministers consisted of just 23 Cabinet Ministers, 10 Independent Ministers and 12 Union Ministers. Now, in 2024, Modi has inducted 30 Cabinet Ministers, five MoS (Independent) and 37 MoS.
Not to be missed on Sunday was the palpable change in swearing-in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Nirmala Sitharaman was led by current BJP national president JP Natta and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. When Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister, he was followed by Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari who preceded Natta as Cabinet Ministers.
The third exodus from the new cabinet is continuity, but the change with the addition of new faces – strong regional players – has changed the order of priority in the party. Modi has key lieutenants; The change comes in the form of BJP leaders drawn from states including Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar from Haryana.
Apart from Modi, the top line of the new government now includes six former chief ministers: Rajnath Singh (Uttar Pradesh), Chauhan (four times in Madhya Pradesh), Katar (twice in Haryana), Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam), Jidan Ram Majhi (Bihar) and HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka). twice).
Given that the BJP’s numbers have dropped from 62 to 33 in some states, notably Uttar Pradesh, and from 23 to 9 in Maharashtra, Modi has inducted nine ministers (out of 14) from UP. previous government) and four (10 previous) from Maharashtra in the new government.
The swearing-in seems to be based on the experience and status of the members rather than the number of coalition parties. Kumaraswamy’s party JD(S) has just two members, but he was ranked tenth in the list of 30 cabinet ministers to be sworn in on Sunday. Ram Mohan Naidu was sworn in on behalf of Telugu Desam Party and Rajiv Ranjan Lalan Singh on behalf of JTU.
