Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of 71 ministers were sworn in on Sunday for the Modi 3.0. However, it has been over 22 hours, the longest in two decades, that there is no news on the allocation of portfolios.
A total of 72 ministers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took oath of the office on Sunday. (Image: Narendra Modi)
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jun 10, 2024 17:28 IST
It has been almost 24 hours since Narendra Modi took the oath as the Prime Minister for the third straight term with 71 ministers in his Union council.
However, there is not even a whisper that has come out about the allocation of portfolios.
This is the longest duration that people have been waiting for, playing the guessing game on the portfolios.
In the last 20 years, the longest that it has taken for the portfolios to be made public is 18 hours. That happened after the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
While the oath ceremony in 2019 began at 7 pm on May 30, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) release related to the allocation of portfolios came at 12.59 pm on May 31, 2019.
A gap of 17 hours and 59 minutes.
When Narendra Modi was first sworn in as the Prime Minister in 2014, the time taken from the swearing-in ceremony to the declaration of portfolios was 15 hours and 31 minutes.
The oath ceremony began at 6 pm on May 26, 2014, and the PIB release related to the allocation of portfolios came the next day (May 27) at 09.31 am.
In the first two terms, the BJP had a majority of its own.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the party could manage only 240 seats, falling short of the 272-majority mark. It is dependent on its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United) in forming and running the government.
The Modi-led NDA will now have to follow 'coalition dharma', a term coined by BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Alliance partners will have to be accommodated in the Union council of ministers and their requests and demands taken care of.
Even the Congress ran two coalition governments -- UPA I and UPA II -- from 2004 to 2014.
In 2009, the Manmohan Singh-led government took 16 hours to announce ministries. That too allocated portfolios to just six ministers after that wait.
The oath ceremony for the UPA II government started at 6.30 pm on May 22, 2009, and the PIB release related to the allocation of portfolios was done only at 10:25 am on May 23, 2009. Only six ministers were allocated portfolios.
The exact wait then was 15 hours and 55 minutes.
Published By:
Sushim Mukul
Published On:
Jun 10, 2024
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