16 first-time MPs among 36 new inductees in Modi Cabinet

New Delhi, July 7

Sixteen of the 36 new inductees in the council of ministers are first-time MPs.

As many as 43 ministers took oath in a major Cabinet expansion-cum-reshuffle on Wednesday while 12 ministers were dropped.         

Ministers of state G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala, Anurag Thakur, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, RK Singh and Kiren Rijiju, were elevated as Cabinet ministers while 36 new inductees were sworn in.

L Murugan, 44, is the only newly-sworn minister who is not a member of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.

The 16 first-time MPs who were sworn in as ministers include Narayan Tatu Rane, Pashupati Kumar Paras, Annpurna Devi, A Narayanaswamy, Ajay Bhatt, B L Verma, Pratima Bhoumik, Subhas Sarkar, Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh.

The others are Bharati Pravin Pawar, Bishweswar Tudu, Shantanu Thakur, Munjapara Mahendrabhai, John Barla and Nisith Pramanik Rane, 69, is a Rajya Sabha MP for Maharashtra.

LJP’s Paras, 68, is the Lok Sabha MP for Hajipur in Bihar but he has been a seven-time MLA and an MLC in Bihar, making him one of India’s senior-most state legislators.

Annpurna Devi, 51, is a Lok Sabha member from Kodarma in Jharkhand. She has also been a four-time MLA from Jharkhand and Bihar       

A Narayanaswamy, 64, is a Lok Sabha MP for Chitradurg in Karnataka. He has also been a four-time MLA in Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Ajay Bhatt, 60, is a Lok Sabha MP for Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar in Uttarakhand. He was a three-time MLA in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.

BL Verma, 59, is a Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh while Pratima Bhoumik is a first-time Lok Sabha MP for Tripura West in Tripura.

Subhas Sarkar, 67, is a first-term Lok Sabha MP for Bankura in West Bengal, Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, 64, is a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, 68, is a Lok Sabha MP for Inner Manipur in Manipur.

Bharati Pravin Pawar, 42, is a Lok Sabha MP for Dindori in Maharashtra.

Bishweswar Tudu, 56, is a Lok Sabha MP for Mayurbhanj in Odisha.

Shantanu Thakur, 38, is an MP from Bongaon in West Bengal, 52-year-old Munjapara Mahendrabhai is a Lok Sabha MP from Surendranagar in Gujarat.

John Barla, 45, is a Lok Sabha MP from Alipurduars in West Bengal and Nisith Pramanik, 35, is a Lok Sabha MP from Cooch Behar in West Bengal. PTI