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New Delhi:

BJP chief JP Nadda is likely to return as a minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is taking oath this evening for a historic third term, sources have said. Thirty ministers are expected to take oath along with PM Modi.

Mr Nadda was in charge of the health ministry in the first cabinet of PM Modi from 2014 to 2019. In 2020, he took charge as the BJP chief, replacing Amit Shah, Union Home Minister and the party’s chief strategist.

In September 2022, four months before Mr Nadda’s tenure in the top party post was expected to end, he was given an extension that lasted till the end of this year’s general election.  

The Council of ministers taking oath this evening at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, is expected to include a number of NDA allies, with the BJP falling short of majority for the first time in a decade.

The spotlight will be on Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, which won 16 seats, and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United, which added 12 seats to the NDA tally. The BJP has won 240 seats — 32 seats short of majority.

The TDP is expected to get four cabinet berths and the JD(U) two. TDP’s K Rammohan Naidu and Chandrasekhar Pemmasani and JD(U)’s Lallan Singh and Ramnath Thakur are expected to take oath today, sources have said.

Among the other leaders expected to be included are Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Chaudhary, Lok Janashakti Party RV’s Chirag Paswan, Shiv Sena’s Pratap Rao Jadhav, HAM’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, AJSU’s Chandra Prakash Chaudhary, RPI’s Ramdas Athawale, Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel and Janata Dal Secular’s HD Kumaraswamy.