Gandhinagar, January 3
A shroud of secrecy surrounds the names of MLAs who would be inducted into the third Narendra Modi cabinet here on Friday morning, and administered the oath of office by Governor Naval Kishore Sharma. Aspirants have been spending anxious nail biting moments till late into the evening, only to be told from the party top brass to wait till the morning. The Chief Minister was closeted with his close aides as also BJP state Chief Purushottam Rupala till late in the evening. Modi kept the names close to himself, even preferring to send the list to the Raj Bhavan only early on Friday morning.
Amid speculation about the size of the cabinet, sources informed that it was likely to be a mid-size expansion keeping in mind the impending budgetary session in February. Modi was sworn in as the Chief Minister on December 25 in presence of a one-lakh strong crowd at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. Party sources have said the ministry is likely to be two-tier, with nine cabinet and six Ministers of State.
