The much awaited list of Union Council of Ministers, comprising of senior 'Cabinet Ministers' and junior 'Ministers of States', has finally been announced.
There has been a little reshuffle in the cabinet, with former BJP president Amit Shah getting the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman getting the Ministry of Finance and Rajnath Singh getting the Ministry of Defence.
This would also make Sitharaman the first full-time woman Minister of Finance, with Indira Gandhi holding the position briefly between 1970 and 1971. Sitharaman has earlier held crucial portfolios of Commerce and Defence in the earlier NDA government between 2014 to 2019.
The other big induction is the appointment of S Jaishankar as India's External Affairs Minister. Jaishankar, a former foreign secretary is an expert on China and played a major role in resolving the Doklam crisis, leading the tough negotiations with the neighbourhood giant.
The giant killer of this election, Smriti Irani who defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi has also been rewarded with an additional ministry apart from her existing ministry of Textiles. Irani will also handle the Women and Child Development ministry. Piyush Goyal who was speculated to be in the lead to take over the finance ministry following Arun Jaitley's exit, will now handle the crucial commerce ministry along with Railways, a responsibility he held in the previous government as well.
Here is the entire list of Cabinet Ministers: