Cabinet reshuffle: PM Modi congratulates Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Naqvi

Following a mega Union Cabinet reshuffle at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the ministers, who have taken oath today and said that their experience and wisdom would add immense value to the Council of Ministers.

He took to Twitter and said, "I congratulate all those who have taken oath today. Their experience & wisdom will add immense value to the Council of Ministers."

The Prime Minister particularly congratulated Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Mukhtal Abbas Naqvi, and Piyush Goyal.

"I congratulate my colleagues @dpradhanbjp, @PiyushGoyal, @nsitharaman and @naqvimukhtar on joining the Union Cabinet," he further tweeted.

The mega Cabinet reshuffle saw the promotion of these Ministers of State to the rank of Cabinet ministers.
Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, took the oath as the Cabinet ministers at the ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Pradhan is known to have spearheaded one of Prime Minister Modi's main schemes - the "Give it Up" plan for people to forego subsidised cooking gas or LPG voluntarily.

Besides managing to maintain ties with the Opposition parties, Naqvi has done wonders for the Union Government as the spokesperson in the Parliament and outside.

Nirmala Sitharaman, serving as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as a Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs under the Ministry of Finance headed by Arun Jaitley, also took the oath.

Sitharaman had travelled to China for a BRICS meeting, in the middle of a lengthy standoff at the border over Doklam.

Piyush Goyal, the Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, was also sworn-in as the Cabinet minister. He had brought about a turnaround in power production and delivered on the government's plan to electrify villages.

There are 49 parties under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) umbrella today, most of which did not find a place in the new team.

Unhappy over this, the Shiv Sena, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ally in Maharashtra, and the Janata Dal (United) (JD (U)), the ally in Bihar, did not participate in the oath ceremony.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to leave for China wherein he would attend the BRICS Summit. 

-ANI