Modi inducts 21 Ministers

• Four Cabinet, 3 MoS (Independent) and 14 MoS
• Total Modi Cabinet strength rises to 66
• Giriraj who wanted Modi critics to go to Pakistan is made Minister
• Telugu Desam lone NDA ally to get a berth
• Suresh Prabhu quits Shiv Sena, joins BJP
• Sadhvi Niranjan only woman to be inducted
• A total of 8 women in Union Council of Ministers
• PM to meet new Ministers today

New Delhi: Marred by a Shiv Sena's boycott, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expanded his union council of ministers, inducting 21 new faces, including four with cabinet rank, giving wide representation to several northern and central states and keeping the age limit well under 68.

With the new induction, Modi's 45-member ministry now totals 66. He inducted four cabinet ministers, three ministers of state with independent charge, and 14 ministers of state (MoS). Modi will on Monday chair the first meeting of the expanded Cabinet, which will be followed by a meeting of Council of Ministers.

From AP Sujana Chowdary is inducted as an MoS, while Bandaru Dattatreya, the lone BJP MP from Telangna, is MoS with independent charge. Former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is widely tipped to get the defence portfolio, was the first to take oath at the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Modi also brought into his ministry the party's known Muslim face in Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, adding to Najma Heptullah, who is minority affairs minister. Naqvi is an MoS. He also added to the representation of women by inducting Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, BJP MP from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, taking the number to eight.Giriraj Singh, 61, who courted controversy with his comment while campaigning for the national elections that "those who oppose Narendra Modi should go to Pakistan" and was also booked for the hate speech, also got a place as minister of state.

The new ministry has most people in their 50s, with the oldest being Bandaru Dattatreya, MoS independent charge, at 68. The youngest is well-known singer Babul Supriyo, the only face in the ministry from West Bengal. The Asansol MP, who was inducted as MoS, is 43, while Olympian shooter Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is 44. The only National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally to get a berth in Sunday's expansion was Telugu Desam Party Rajya Sabha MP, YS Chowdary as an MoS. The states to get wide representation are Maharashtra, where the BJP has formed government for the first time, with two ministers -- Suresh Prabhu and Ahir, adding to the prominent names already in the cabinet, including Nitin Gadkari and Prakash Javadekar.

In Haryana, where it won in the recent assembly elections and formed the government, has a new minister in Birender Singh. Keeping in mind the forthcoming elections in Bihar, the council has three new faces from the state - Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ram Kirpal Yadav and Giriraj Singh. Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and Ravi Shankar Prasad are from Bihar.

Uttar Pradesh got the largest representation, with four new faces -- Mahesh Sharma, a doctor who owns Kailash Hospital and is an MP from Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida); Naqvi, who is a Rajya Sabha member; Ram Shankar Katheria, Agra MP; and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. First time Uttar Pradesh MP SadhviNiranjan Jyoti is the lone woman face in the expansion of the Union Cabinet which took the total representation of the fairer sex to eight on Sunday. Gujarat, where Modi was the CM for three terms, got two new faces in Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary, and Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundarya.