Modi 3.0 | Mix of experience and new faces likely in new Cabinet; BJP may retain Big 4

Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi is set to give a message of continuity in his new term by inducting most key faces of his outgoing government in the Council of Ministers to be sworn on Sunday evening.

Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, who held the home, defence, finance and external affairs ministries, respectively, in the outgoing government, besides its other senior members such as Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Hardeep Singh Puri, are likely to be part of the new government.

Over 65 ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.

Surprise omission

One surprise omission seems to be Anurag Thakur, the outgoing information and broadcasting minister who won from Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur constituency again. He was not among the leaders invited to meet Modi. The PM-designate customarily meets new ministers ahead of their swearing-in ceremony.

Outgoing ministers Smriti Irani, who suffered a big defeat in Amethi, and Parshottam Rupala, who won but whose remarks on Rajput community during the polls had triggered a massive row, are also unlikely to find a place in the new government.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who lost to Shashi Tharoor in a close contest, is also likely to be missing from the new government.

However, a big majority of the outgoing ministers are set to continue, according to the visuals of the meeting shared by official sources.

Accommodating allies

The fresh faces in the government are mostly from BJP allies.

Leaders of alliance partners like TDP's Ram Mohan Naidu and Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, JDU's Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, Shiv Sena's Prataprao Jadhav besides other NDA members such as Chirag Paswan of LJP, Jitan Ram Manjhi of HAM, HD Kumaraswamy of JDS, Jayant Chaudhary of RLD, Ramdas Athawale of RPI, and Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (Soneylal) will be taking oath.

New faces from BJP

BJP leaders Manohar Lal Khattar, CR Paatil, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bandi Sanjay Kumar and Ravneet Singh Bittu will also be among the new faces in the Union Council of Ministers.

BJP's Jyotiraditya Scindia, Bhupender Yadav, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jitendra Singh, SPS Baghel, Annapurna Devi, Virendra Kumar, Pankaj Chaudhary, Shobha Karandlaje, Krishna Pal Gurjar, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and L Murugan, all outgoing ministers, will also be taking oath, sources said.

BJP's G Kishan Reddy, Sukanta Majumdar, Rao Inderjit Singh, Nityanand Rai and Bhagirath Choudhary are also tipped to be part of the new government.

BJP MPs Jitin Prasada from Uttar Pradesh and Raksha Khadse from Maharashtra are also expected to be part of the new government. Khadse confirmed to the media that she has received a call to be part of the government.

Nadda in cabinet?

There is also speculation within the BJP that its national president JP Nadda, whose extended tenure will end by this month and who was among the leaders meeting Modi, may also be brought back in the government. However, he may also be present at the meeting as the head of the ruling party.

He was a member of the first Modi government before being relieved and taking over the charge of the party's organisation in 2019.

Bittu, the grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, had lost the Lok Sabha election from Ludhiana but is likely to be inducted due to his profile as the BJP continues its bid to expand its footprint in Punjab.

BJP MP from Ranchi Sanjay Seth and its Odisha MP Jual Oram, a former Union minister, are also expected to take oath.

BJP’s South push

TDP Lok Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh, K Ram Mohan Naidu and Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, are also likely to be inducted into the Union Cabinet.

Naidu is a three-time Lok Sabha member, while Pemmasani, considered to be the richest MP, was elected to the House for the first time.

From the BJP's quota in Andhra Pradesh, where it bagged three seats, state unit chief Daggubati Purandeshwari and Narsapuram MP Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma are tipped for ministerial berths.

From Telangana, where the saffron party made huge gains, bagging eight seats of the available 17, Bandi Sanjay and G Kishan Reddy are likely to take oath.

From the BJP's quota in Karnataka, four MPs are likely to be inducted into the government. Ally JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy could be made a Union minister, the sources said.

The names of Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai and the lone BJP MP from Kerala, Suresh Gopi, are also doing the rounds for a cabinet berth. Gopi on Sunday left for New Delhi with his family.

Reacting to queries from reporters while rushing to the Thiruvananthapuram international airport, Gopi said that Modi has asked him to reach the national capital immediately.