NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday inducted 6 new faces into the council of ministers and elevated two ministers of state to Cabinet rank.
President K R Narayanan administered the oath of office to them at a brief ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Ministers of state, Arun Shourie and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, were on Saturday promoted to the Cabinet rank.
Kariya Munda, a tribal leader from Jharkhand, and Bharatiya Janata Party treasurer Ved Prakash Goyal were also inducted as Cabinet ministers.
Rajiv Pratap Rudi, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Vijay Goel and M K Annasaheb Patil took oath as ministers of state.
Vajpayee and his ministerial colleagues, including Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, were present on the occasion.
With the induction of six new faces, the strength of the council of ministers has gone up to 77.
The new portfolios are as follows:
Ram Vilas Paswan - Mine Steel and Coal Jagmohan - Tourism Ananth Kumar - Urban Development Ved Prakash Goel - Shipping Satyanarayan Jatia - Social Justice Pramod Mahajan - Telecom Sharad Yadav - Labour Syed Shahnawaz Hussain - Civil Aviation Maneka Gandhi - Culture and Animal Husbandry
PTI
ALSO SEE Cabinet reshuffle likely on Saturday
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