Narendra Modi 2.0 : Dharmendra Gets Cabinet Rank and Pratap Sarangi Becomes Minister of State

Bhubaneswar: 68 years old BJP leader Narendra Damodardas Modi today took oath as the 16th Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

In an impressive ceremony attended by more than seven thousand dignitaries at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Narendra Modi along with 57 ministers took oath of office and secrecy. President Ramnath Kobind administered the oath.

The second innings of Narendra Modi saw induction of 57 ministers that included 24 cabinet ministers, 24 Ministers of State and nine Ministers of State with Independent Charge. BJP President Amit Saha who won from the Gandhinagar constituency of Gujarat was the second in queue to take oath after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While the ministry is a mix of young and experienced leaders, a few surprises were also there. The new government includes old faces such as Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Piyus Goyal, Smiriti Irani, Prakash Javdekar , Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Vilash Paswan and Nirmala Sitaraman.

Others who got the Cabinet rank include Harsimrat Kaur Badal, D Sadanand Gowda, Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Narendra Singh Tomar, Giriraj Singh, Dharmendra Pradhan, Prahlad Joshi and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Team Modi also includes twenty four Ministers of State including Faggansingh Kulaste, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Arjun Ram Meghwal, General (Retd) VK Singh, Krishan Pal, Danve Raosaheb Dadarao, G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala, Ramdas Athawale, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Babul Supriyo, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Anurag Singh Thakur, Angadi Suresh Channabasappa, Nityanand Rai, Rattan Lal Kataria, V Muraleedharan, Renuka Singh Saruta, Som Parkash, Rameswar Teli, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Kailash Choudhary and Debasree Chaudhuri.

While former Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has found place in the Modi cabinet, the surprising entry was that of Pratap Chandra Sarangi. The first time Parliamentarian from Odisha has been accommodated as a Minister of State.

Pratap Sarangi’s simplicity and moderate personality must have attracted Narendra Modi to induct him in the ministry. Pratap was given an ovation by cheers from the crowd and BJP leaders as he came for the swearing in.

64 years old Sarangi surprised everyone when he defeated BJD’s Rabindra Jena and the Congress’s Nabajyoti Patnaik in a three cornered fight. Known for his social service and down to earth life, Pratap is an active member of the RSS and member of BJP’s National Executive. In last few days after the elections, the social media was agog with praises for Sarangi there was demand from many quarters for his inclusion in the ministry.