New Delhi: On the day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony, all eyes are on his Cabinet. The list of Modi's ministers has been sent to the Rashtrapati Bhawan and it is springing out some surprises with the inclusion of allies like Upendra Kushwaha. It includes the names of 18 ministers and 16 ministers of state.
Among those who have got calls to be ministers in the Modi cabinet are former Army chief and BJP MP General VK Singh, Nirmala Seetharaman and Harsh Vardhan. BJP MP Santosh Gangwan too is on the list.
Another surprise is RSS old-timer Radha Mohan Singh, who has been called by Modi to the Gujarat Bhawan.
Kalraj Mishra is likely to be the HRD Minister while Nitin Gadkari is poised to take over as the minister of all transport including shipping, aviation, railways, surface and highways. Ravi Shankar Prasad is likely to be next Information and Broadcasting Minister and Nripendra Mishra will take over as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, say sources.
According to sources, BJP President Rajnath Singh will be the new Home Minister in Modi's Cabinet. BJP leader JP Nadda is set to become the new party president. Arun Jaitley remains the frontrunner for Finance, while Arun Shourie is poised for the post of government advisor or deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is the frontrunner for the Ministry of External Affairs. Sources also suggest that Murli Manohar Joshi and LK Advani may not get Cabinet posts while Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar and Maneka Gandhi are also getting Cabinet berths. Sumithra Mahajan remains in contention along with Karia Munda for the Lok Sabha Speaker's post.
TDP Leader Ashok Gajapathy Raju and Shiv Sena leader Anant Geete are also likely to be given Cabinet berths.
Manmohan Singh's Cabinet had 28 Cabinet ministers, 11 Ministers of State - Independent Charge and 32 Ministers of State.
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