The new Council of Ministers was officially sworn in at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The ceremony featured 71 Members of Parliament alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The following day, portfolios were assigned to each minister. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was reappointed as the Union Minister of External Affairs, and he will be supported by two new Ministers of State (MoS) for External Affairs.
Assam MP Pabitra Margherita has been appointed as the Minister of External Affairs in the Rajya Sabha. Previously, Margherita served as the spokesperson and political secretary to Assam Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma. Alongside his responsibilities at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), he will serve as MoS in the Ministry of Textiles. Upon taking his oath as Union Minister, EAM Jaishankar’s first action was to meet with the heads of state from neighbouring countries who were present in New Delhi for the Prime Minister’s swearing-in ceremony. This early engagement during EAM’s second term emphasises New Delhi’s prioritisation of its relationships with neighbouring countries.
Kirtivardhan Singh, elected for the fifth time from the Gonda constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has been appointed as the new MoS for External Affairs. These new appointments mark the departure of the previous three MoS at MEA –– Meenakshi Lekhi, V. Muraleedharan, and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh.
