Modi Cabinet 3.0: Chirag Paswan, Suresh Gopi among first timers who took oath on June 9

Narendra Modi, along with 72 ministers, took oath for a third consecutive term as the Prime Minister of India on Sunday in a mega event at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Since 2014, this will be the first time that the BJP won’t be enjoying full majority in the Lok Sabha. 

The new Council of Ministers will comprise 11 ministers belonging to NDA allies. The Modi Cabinet 3.0 will comprise 30 Cabinet Ministers, 5 Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 36 Ministers of State. The portfolios will be announced soon. 

The new Cabinet includes 33 first-time Union Ministers including Chirag Paswan from Bihar, Suresh Gopi from Kerala, Bandi Sanjay Kumar from Telangana, former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Shiv Sena’s Prataprao Jadhav from Maharashtra. 

Other first-timers include George Kurian (Kerala), Murlidhar Mohol (Maharashtra), Raksha Khadse (Maharashtra), Sukanta Majumdar (West Bengal), CR Paatil (Gujarat) and V Somanna (Karnataka). 

Here are the top first-time ministers in Modi Cabinet 3.0: 

1. Chirag Paswan: The firebrand leader from Bihar was among the many first-timers to take the oath of office in PM Modi’s Cabinet on Sunday. Elected from the Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar, Paswan secured over 6.14 lakh votes and defeated his closest rival by a margin of more than 1.7 lakh votes. 

2. Suresh Gopi: The actor-turned-politician is the first BJP Lok Sabha MP from Kerala to join PM Modi’s Council of Ministers. In a fierce three-cornered contest in Thrissur, Gopi defeated CPI’s VS Sunil Kumar by a margin of more than 74,000 votes. Congress’ K Muraleedharan was also in the electoral fray. 

3. George Kurian: George Kurian, known for his no-nonsense style of functioning, is another surprise entry into the Council of Ministers. A lawyer by profession, he has worked in almost all the key positions of the BJP’s Kerala wing such as national vice president of the Yuva Morcha, Minority Morcha and National Council member of the saffron party. Furthermore, he has also translated key rallies by PM Modi and other senior ministers in the state many times. 

4. Bandi Sanjay Kumar: Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar weathered political storms and unhappiness within the party to becoming a first-time Union Minister in PM Modi’s Council of Ministers. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he won from the Karimnagar constituency by a margin of over 2.25 lakh votes. 

5. Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu: The TDP MP from Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam is one of the youngest ministers in the Modi Cabinet 3.0. Son of former union minister and TDP leader K Yerran Naidu, he has worked as the national general secretary of the regional satrap during trying times such as Chandrababu Naidu’s arrest in the alleged skill development case. 

He won from the Srikakulam Lok Sabha seat with a margin of over 3.27 lakh votes. Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu was one of the first MPs to advocate for menstrual health education and sex education in Parliament. He also campaigned for the removal of GST on sanitary pads. 

6. Shivraj Singh Chouhan: The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and BJP veteran was among the first 5 ministers sworn in after PM Modi’s oath. Fondly called ‘Mama’ and ‘Bhaiyya’ by the people, Chouhan is the longest-serving chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. 

In December last year after roughly 17 years and four terms as Madhya Pradesh CM, Chouhan resigned and made way for Dr Mohan Yadav. He contested the Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha and defeated Congress’ Pratabhanu Sharma by over 8 lakh votes. 

7. HD Kumaraswamy: The two-time Karnataka CM and five-time Janata Dal (Secular) MLA bagged a seat in the Union Council of Ministers by aligning with the BJP. The 64-year-old Vokkaliga leader, who won from the Mandya Lok Sabha seat with a margin of over 2.84 lakh votes, is eyeing the agriculture ministry in the Central government. 

Son of JD(S) scion and former PM HD Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy is known for farmer friendly and pro rural policies like farm loan waiver and outreach to rural folk with ‘gram vastavya’ project under which he stayed in villages to understand their problems during his stint as CM. 

8. Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar: TDP’s Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar is the richest Lok Sabha MP named in Modi Cabinet 3.0. A first-time MP from Guntur, Chandrasekhar has assets worth more than Rs 5,700 crore. He defeated his rival YSR Congress’ Kilari Venkata Rosaiah by a margin of over 3.4 lakh votes in the 2024 general elections. 

9. Prataprao Jadhav: A four-time MP from Maharashtra’s Buldhana, the Shiv Sena veteran was yet another surprise entry in Modi Cabinet 3.0. When the Shiv Sena split, Jadhav remained with chief minister Eknath Shinde and contested in Buldhana against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Narendra Dagdu Khedekar. In the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, Jadhav defeated Khedekar by a margin of over 29,000 votes.