Sarbananda Sonowal, Kiren Rijiju Among 43 Leaders to be Inducted in Modi's New Cabinet

GUWAHATI: Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Pashupati Kumar Paras, Bhupender Yadav, Anupriya Patel, Shobha Karandlaje, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ajay Bhatt and Anurag Thakur are among the 43 leaders who will be sworn in as Union ministers at 6 pm

ANI Tweeted, "43 leaders to take oath today in the Union Cabinet expansion. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Pashupati Kumar Paras, Bhupender Yadav, Anupriya Patel, Shobha Karandlaje, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ajay Bhatt, Anurag Thakur to also take the oath."

Meanwhile, Union ministers have started submitting their resignations, with the Cabinet reshuffle and oath-taking ceremony scheduled to be held at 6 pm.

Following are the ministers who have resigned from their positions so far:

Harsh Vardhan, Union health minister

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union education minister

DV Sadananda Gowda, Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister

Santosh Gangwar, Labour minister

Raosaheb Danve

Ratan Lal Kataria

Debashree Chaudhari

Sanjay Dhotre

Ashwini Chaube, MoS Health

Pratap Chandra Sarangi, MoS Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and MSME

Earlier, the former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal reached Delhi after "receiving a call" to be present in the national capital for his likely induction in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, according to BJP insiders.

BJP Parliamentarian from Inner Manipur, Dr RK Ranjan Singh, too, has been summoned, the party's sources in the state said.

Sonowal arrived in New Delhi by Tuesday afternoon amid speculation that he may get a plum ministry. Party insiders indicate that his induction was a "done deal".

This was decided, they said when the BJP high command decided to make Himanta Biswa Sarma the new Assam Chief Minister. Sonowal was then tipped off about a "new responsibility at the Centre", said one of his close aides.

Sonowal was President of the All-Assam Student Union between 1992 and 1999. He then left the body to begin his political career by joining the Asom Gana Parishad, getting elected MLA from Moran in 2001. Three years later, in 2004, he entered the Lok Sabha from Dibrugarh. He returned to the lower house again in 2014 from Lakhimpur, becoming the Union Sports Minister during Prime Minister Modi's first term.

Ahead of the 2016 assembly polls, Sonowal was made the BJP's face in Assam. The party, along with its allies, then went on to form its first government in the state.