Union Cabinet expansion : 43 ministers take oath ; including 36 new faces

New Delhi: Thirty-six new ministers joined the government and four high-profile ministers quit today in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mega cabinet reshuffle, aimed at a reboot to offset heavy criticism over Covid and the economy.

PM Modi now has 77 ministers, nearly half of them new and seven ministers up for promotions.

A total of 43 leaders took oath as ministers as part of the Cabinet expansion of the Modi-led government. Ahead of the reshuffle, a total of 12 ministers tendered their resignations including Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

But the exits of IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar stood out on a day resignations made bigger news than new ministers.

Harsh Vardhan's sacking follows months of firefighting as the second surge of Covid engulfed the nation, exposing its inadequate health infrastructure.

Mr Javadekar was among the chief spokespersons of the government, a role he had performed for years. But Ravi Shankar Prasad's resignation was the most shocking of all.

A veteran BJP leader, Mr Prasad, like Mr Javadekar, is among the few who were ministers even in the previous BJP government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mr Prasad's last few months in the IT ministry were taken up by a relentless back-and-forth with Twitter over a range of issues, including new IT rules.

All three were seen at the oath ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening.

The government said "20 per cent" ministers - a fifth of the council of ministers -- had been dropped and the message was performance-linked.

The vacancies in major ministries signal a shake-up that could see ministers shedding extra portfolios and some being downgraded. The Big Four, however, are unlikely to be affected - the Ministers of Home, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Finance.

Narayan Rane, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sarbananda Sonowal are likely to get cabinet ministries.

Bhupendra Yadav and Meenakshi Lekhi also joined the government. Seven new ministers are from Uttar Pradesh, which will elect a new government next year.