Cabinet expansion: Parrikar, Rudy among 21 new ministers in PM Modi's team

In the first cabinet expansion exercise of the Narendra Modi government, ex-Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, senior BJP leader JP Nadda and two others took oath as cabinet ministers on Sunday. Also, three ministers of state (independent charge) were sworn in at Rashtrapathi Bhavan. The expansion exercise is being viewed as a move that is likely to give a big push to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh - with an eye on elections - and reward Maharashtra and Haryana for delivering decisive victories for the BJP in the recent assembly polls.

In the first cabinet expansion exercise after assuming power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted 21 ministers into his council on Sunday. While four of them are cabinet-rank ministers, three are ministers of state (independent charge) and rest of the 14 are MoS.

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Before the exercise, Modi held discussions with the new ministers over tea at 7, Race Course Road, his official residence. List of the ministers to take oath was sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan earlier in the day.

Former Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, BJP leaders JP Nadda and Birender Singh and Shiv Sena leader Suresh Prabhu took oath as cabinet ministers.

Ministers of State (independent charge) include Bandaru Dattatreya, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Dr Mahesh Sharma.