Updated

Nine new union ministers including Anant Kumar Hegde from Karnataka sworn-in

New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS): Nirmala Sitharaman was on Sunday named India's Defence Minister in a reshuffle-cum-expansion of his ministry carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that also saw Piyush Goyal take charge of Indian Railways.

Of the other two new Cabinet ministers, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan got additional charge of Skill Development Entrepreneurship while Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi retained the Minority Affairs Ministry.

The three new Ministers of State with independent charge are R.K. Singh (Power, New and Renewable Energy), Hardeep Puri (Housing and Urban Affairs) and K.J. Alphons (Tourism, Electronics and IT).

The six new Ministers of State are Shiv Pratap Shukla (Finance), Ashwini Choubey (Health and Family Welfare), Virendra Kumar (Women and Child Development and Minority Affairs), Anant Kumar Hegde (Skill Development and Entrepreneurship), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) and Satya Pal Singh (Human Resource Development, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation).

Anant Kumar Hegde

Dharmendra Pradhan

Piyush Goyal

Nirmala Sitharaman

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Suresh Prabhu, who lost his Railway portfolio, has been shifted within the Cabinet to the Commerce and Industry Ministry, earlier held by Sitharaman.

Nitin Gadkari, who was holding Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, will also head the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry.

Cabinet minister Uma Bharti, who lost the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, is now left with Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Earlier in the day, four Ministers of State -- Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sithraman and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi -- were promoted to the Cabinet and nine new faces including four former bureaucrats became Ministers of States as Prime Minister Narendra Modi expanded the union council of ministers.

The promoted ministers and the new faces were administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a 35-minute ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, attended among others by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and family members of the some new ministers.

The new Ministers of State are former diplomat Hardeep Puri, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (MP), former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satya Pal Singh (MP), former bureaucrat K.J. Alphons as well as Ashwini Choubey, Shiv Pratap Shukla, Virendra Kumar, Anant Kumar Hegde and former union Home Secretary R.K. Singh (all MPs).

Sunday's exercise did not involve BJP allies including the Janata Dal-United.

Pradhan (Petroleum), Goyal (Power), Sitharaman (Commerce and Industry) and Naqvi (Minority Affairs) were Ministers of State with independent charge.

Suresh Prabhu appeared to indicate that he will no longer be the Railway Minister.

"Thanks to all 13 Lacs plus rail family for their support, love, goodwill. I will always cherish these memories with me. Wishing you all a great life," he tweeted. Prabhu had offered to quit after last months's rail accident in Uttar Pradesh claimed 23 lives.

Diplomat, bureaucrats, ex-police chief among nine new faces in Modi government

Former diplomat Hardeep Puri, former union Home Secretary R K Singh, former bureaucrat K J Alphons, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh and five other new faces including MPs Ashwini Choubey from Bihar and Anant Kumar Hegde from Karnataka have been inducted into the Union Council of Ministers in the expansion and reshuffle carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

The others inducted are Shiv Pratap Shukla, a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh, Virendra Kumar, a Scheduled Caste member of Lok Sabha from Madhya Pradesh and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, a Lok Sabha member from Rajasthan.

Sources said six ministers have resigned as part of restructuring for which the Prime Minister has chosen the power of four Ps - Passion, Proficiency, Professional and Political Acumen for Progress.

Among those who resigned are Skill Development Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Kalraj Mishra, Minister of State for Human Resource Developmet Mahendra Nath Pandey and junior Water Resources Minister Sanjeev Balyan.

The disclosure of names came after a final round of discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah after Shah returned from Vrindavan where he met top RSS brass including Mohan Bhagwat on the third reshuffle exercise by Modi, seen as crucial ahead of assembly polls in some states and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Puri, who was India's Permanent Representative at the United Nations, had joined BJP ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. An officer of the 1974 batch of IFS, he is known for his experience and expertise in foreign policy and national security.

R K Singh, a Lok Sabha member from Ara in Bihar, was union Home Secretary during the UPA rule and had served in various capacities including as Defence Production Secretary and Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry.

Alphons, who earned the sobriquet "Demolition Man" when as DDA commissioner he undertook a campaign against unauthorised constructions in the national capital scrapping 15,000 buildings, is a former IAS officer who had joined BJP in Kerala.

As Collector, Alphons had played a leading role in making Kottayam the first literate town in the whole country in 1989. Like Puri, he is not a Member of Parliament.

Satyapal Singh, an MP from Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh, was Mumbai Police Commissioner known for his extraordinary work in Maoist-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. As Police Commissioner in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, he is credited with breaking the backbone of organised crime syndicates in the 1990s.

In the political category, Shiv Pratap Shukla, the Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh is a member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and a four time member of the Uttar Pradesh assembly. He has served as cabinet minister in the state for eight years and is known for his work in rural development, education and prison reforms.

The other nominee from Bihar Ashwini Choubey is a Lok Sabha member from Buxar. He was elected MLA from Bhagalpur for five consecutive terms and has held portfolios of Health, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering for eight years.

Virendra Kumar is a six-time Lok Sabha member from Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh and is the chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour. Choubey and Kumar have participated in JP movement in 1970s and were imprisoned during the Emergency.

Hegde, a Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada in Karnataka, is a seasoned parliamentarian having won five elections. He is a member of the parliamentary committee on External Affairs and Human Resource Development and has keen interest in rural development. Assembly elections are due in Karnatka early next year and in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the later part.

Shekhawat, a first time MP from Jodhpur in Rajasthan, is a techno savvy progressive farmer and is seen as a role model for the rural community. Known for his simple life style, he is one of the most followed political leaders on Quora globally.

The sources said in continuation of his track record identifying his fellow team members on the merit of their past performance and future potential, the Prime Minister has selected the new ministers with a mandate to deliver on his vision of new India. The vision is built on foundations of development and good governance with a focus on poor opressed and deprieved section of the society.

They said the ministers were going to be strategic placed in key ministries, specially focussing on last-mile delivery directly to the people. They come from diverse social and economic backgrounds as well as from across the country.