NEW DELHI, Mar 19: A 43-member two-tier Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition ministry, headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee, was sworn in on Thursday. President KR Narayanan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministry which has 21 cabinet ministers and an equal number of ministers of state.Yashwant Sinha will be the new finance minister while LK Advani has been given the home portfolio. Prime minister Vajpayee will retain, among others, the key portfolio of external affairs.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique late tonight said George Fernandes will be the defence minister while Ramakrishna Hegde will get commerce portfolio. The communique contained the portfolios of only the 21 cabinet ministers apart from those to be held by the prime minister saying that the portfolios of the ministers of state would be announced later.
BJP veteran Sikander Bakht has been given industry, Surjit Singh Barnala gets chemicals and fertilisers with additional charge of food. While Ram Jethmalani will hold the urban development portfolio, Delhi strongman Madan Lal Khurana gets parliamentary affairs with additional charge of tourism. Human resources development portfolio goes to Murli Manohar Joshi with additional charge of science and technology, information and broadcasting to Sushma Swaraj, petroleum and natural gas to K Ramamurthy, railways to Nitish Kumar, law and justice to R Thambi Durai, and steel and mines to Naveen Patnaik.
Suresh Prabhu has been given environment and forests, Kashiram Rana gets textiles, Buta Singh communications, and R Kumaramangalam power.While R Muthiah gets surface transport, Satyanarayan Jatiya has been given labour. Ananth Kumar has bagged the civil aviation portfolio. Drawn from the alliance partners, including independent members of the new Lok Sabha, the Cabinet ministers sworn in from BJP, the single-largest party in the coalition, were LK Advani, Anant Kumar, Sikander Bakht, Satyanarain Jatiya, MM Joshi, MK Khurana, TR Kumaramanglam, Kashi Ram Rana, Yashwant Sinha and Sushma Swaraj.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
