Modi taps professional talent in revamp of core team today

Former diplomat, bureaucrats among nine new ministers set to bring in domain expertise

NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to induct a former diplomat, an ex-police commissioner and two former bureaucrats, indicating his focus on professionalism and administrative experience as he revamps his council of ministers with nine new faces on Sunday.

Modi’s ministerial team will include former representative to the United Nations Hardeep Puri, former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh, ex-home secretary RK Singh, and former Delhi Development Authority Commissioner KJ Alphons, who was known as the “Demolition Man” of Delhi for acting against encroachments and unauthorised constructions.

They and five others will be sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at 10:30am in a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Sunday morning, which will mark the third rejig of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers since he took over three years ago. Their inclusion will take the strength of the Union council of ministers to 76.

Ahead of the ceremony, the PM will meet the new ministers over breakfast.

The other inductees include Shiv Pratap Shukla from eastern UP, known as a detractor of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Ashwini Kumar Choubey from Bihar, Virendra Kumar, a Dalit leader from Madhya Pradesh, Anant Kumar Hegde from Karnataka, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat from Rajasthan.

The JD(U), an NDA constituent that was tipped to get two ministerial berths, is unlikely to join the government in Sunday’s exercise. The Shiv Sena, which has only one Cabinet minister at the Centre, objected to more representation being given to JD(U) unless it too got additional cabinet berths, said sources from the two regional parties.

Shiv Sena has 18 members in the Lok Sabha while the JD(U) has two.

That Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put a premium on competence and efficiency in revamping his team is evident from the fact that he has not picked anybody from poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, as was widely anticipated.