Modi 3.0 Cabinet: Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari to be included | A look at the likely candidates for ministerial berths today

BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader Narendra Modi will take the oath as prime minister of India today at 7:15 p.m. at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. This makes Modi only the second person after former PM Jawaharlal Nehru to become prime minister for a third consecutive term.

In attendance at the ceremony will be many national and international dignitaries, including top leaders from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. To this end, security across the capital has been beefed up and Rashtrapati Bhawan will have three-tier security till June 11. Further, the Delhi-NCT area has been declared a no-fly zone to prohibit the use of drones and similar devices.

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Besides Modi, however, all eyes are on which MP-elects from the NDA will make the final cut into his Cabinet and his council of ministers. These ministers are also scheduled to take their oath today.

Nitish Kumar, Chandrababu Naidu — ‘Kingmakers’

Despite exit polls predicting a clean sweep for the incumbent BJP government and declaring 300-400 seats for the party, the BJP won 240 seats in the recently concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections. As such, it is short 32 seats to reach the 272 majority mark and is now reliant on NDA partners to form the government for a third term.

Among the NDA, four allies in particular have emerged as "critical" for the BJP to form its government. These are the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) headed by Chandrababu Naidu; the Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar; Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde; and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) led by Chirag Paswan. These four allies have won 16, 12, 7 and 5 seats respectively, making Naidu and Kumar in particular "kingmakers".

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With their influence on the future of the government set, allies are seeking lucrative ministerial posts marked by representation from their parties. Demands have reportedly been made, and today's ceremony will reveal who got what.

A Look At Who Will Likely Make it to Modi 3.0 Cabinet

• Former Karnataka CM and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy had hinted that his party was interested in the agriculture portfolio in government, as per News18.
• From the JD(U), News18 cited sources saying ministerial seats will also go to Lalan Singh, Sanjay Kumar Jha, Ram Nath Thakur, Sunil Kumar, and Kaushalendra Kumar. 

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• Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari are likely to be retained as ministers in Modi Cabinet 3.0
• Hindustan Times cited sources say that the TDP is seeking five cabinet berths to the party leaders and two for its ally Jana Sena at the Centre. 
• News18 cited sources say that Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, the TDP winner from Srikakulam, is likely to make the cut. 
• Other alliance partners likely to get berths include Chirag Paswan, Anupriya Patel, chief of Apna Dal Party; Jayant Chaudhary, chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal; and Jitan Ram Manjhi, chief of the Hindustani Awam Morcha, as per News18.
• BJP leaders likely to get ministries, as per News18 sources, include DK Aruna, D Arvind, Basavaraj Bommai, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Biplab Dev, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Gopi​, Piyush Goyal, Prataprao Jadhav, Sanjay Jaiswal, Pralhad Joshi, Govind Karjol, PC Mohan, Bijuli Kalita Medhi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Jitin Prasad, Daggubati Purandeswari, Nityanand Rai, Eatala Rajender, Kishan Reddy, Kiren Rijiju, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Manmohan Samal, Bandi Sanjay, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jugal Kishore Sharma, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Jitendra Singh, Rajnath Singh, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Shantanu Thakur.
  
  (Mint couldn't independently verify)