Ministers came to know of portfolios at first cabinet meet, from envelopes | India News

NEW DELHI: For the 30 Cabinet ministers the suspense over their portfolios ended after nearly 18 hours. While the ministers and their staff were glued to television sets and kept checking websites for the “communique” from Rashtrapati Bhavan, the wait finally ended when they reached Lok Kalyan Marg for the first Cabinet meeting of the new govt.
Greeting them was an envelope on their seats, containing their portfolios as well as the names of the ministers of state attached to their ministries, sources told TOI.
During the previous two terms of PM Narendra Modi, the President’s secretariat had issued the communique by afternoon but this time the wait was longer. And unlike 2014, when several portfolios had leaked out on the day of swearing-in, this time it wasn’t until the Cabinet meeting that even the media got a whiff of it. As a result, names started being flashed on TV screens and websites after 6.30pm, when the Cabinet meeting ended.
Final list of ministers revealed at 7:30 pm
Govt watchers said that this may perhaps be the first time when ministers were informed about their portfolios written on paper and kept inside envelopes.
The final list of portfolios was made public only around 7.30 pm – this is when the ministers of state, including those holding independent charge, got to know their ministries.