Sushma Swaraj likely to take oath as minister, gets PMO's phone call: Sources

Sushma Swaraj, who held the portfolio of external affairs minister, is likely to continue as Union Minister in the new Narendra Modi-cabinet. According to sources, Swaraj, who opted out from contesting Lok Sabha elections citing health reasons, will take oath as cabinet minister. As per the reports, Sushma will be choosen as a Rajya Sabha MP and is likely to be the leader of the ruling party in the upper house.

After leading his party to landslide victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi is scheduled to take oath as Prime Minister at 7 pm on Thursday. The swearing-in ceremony of Modi will take place at Rashtrapati Bhavan and President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the PM and other members of the Union Council of Ministers.

Apart from Sushma Swaraj, those who will continue in the cabinet are - Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Harsimarat Kaur Badal, Ram Vilas Paswan, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh, Piyush Goyal and Prakash Javadekar. Several new faces will also be inducted in the new Modi government. Suresh Angadi, Arvind Sawant, Bhupender Yadav will be among the new faces to be part of the Modi cabinet.

Several leaders of BIMSTEC member countries will attend the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi. Those confirmed their participation included Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid, and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth. Prime ministers of Nepal and Bhutan, Special Envoy of Thailand Grisada Boonrach and Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov will also attend the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi.