Latest Indian Cabinet after 2014 Indian General Elections
The Big Day - Monday, May 26, 2014: 5.30pm IST
Key Updates:

• Narendra Modi has taken his oath and has officially become the Prime Minister of India. He has also shaken hands with the President as Prime Minister.
• Guests have risen to pay respect to the Indian national anthem as the Prime Minister's swearing in ceremony begins.
• President of India Pranab Mukherjee has descended from the steps to the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan, his official residence. Narendra Modi will be sworn-in imminently.
• Rashtrapati Bhavan's forecourt in Delhi is thriving with 4,000 guests ready to witness BJP leader Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony. This is the first time, an Indian PM's swearing in ceremony has attracted such large audience.
• Usual cabinet suspects Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Ramvilas Paswan, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Gopinath Munde, Venkaiah Naidu are sharing space with Narendra Modi. 
• Former Presidents Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil are there too. Current Vice President Hamid Ansari has arrived at the venue.
• Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrives in Delhi for Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony. "I am going to Delhi with a message of peace," Sharif said ahead of his historic trip. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Nepalese, Bhutanese and Mauritian PM are other SAARC members in Modi's guestlist. 
• Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh have arrived at Rashtrapati Bhavan for the ceremony along with Congress Minister P Chidambaram.
• Industrialist Mukesh Ambani is also present. Bollywood celebs turned BJP campaigners Shatrughan Sinha, Poonam Dhillon, Salman Khan, Hema Malini, Vivek Oberoi and Bappi Lahiri are there too along with art-of-living expert Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
• Modi visits former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence to seek his blessings.
• Modi pays respects at Rajghat -- the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi.
  

  Modi at Raj Ghat offering tribute to Mahatma Gandhi

  Image: Modi Twitter
• Tight security arrangements underway at the Indian capital city for SAARC leaders arriving today.
• As many as 40 ministers will be sworn-in today along with the Prime Minister himself.
• Various Ministries will be transformed into "Organic Ministries for quicker pace of work & better coordination between departments", says Modi.
• Modi is likely to keep the Defence portfolio.
• Cabinet Portfolio speculations -- Arun Jaitley may get Finance, Rajnath Singh may get Home Ministry, Sushma Swaraj to head External Affairs. Nitin Gadkari may get Railways or Transport and Smriti Irani could get HRD Ministry. Irani, when entered the Cabinet, will become the youngest Woman Minister in the Modi-government.
• BJP allies to make it into the cabinet may include Shiv Sena's Anant Geete, TDP's Ashok Gajapati Raju, Akali Dal's Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and Lok Janashakti Party leader Ramvilas Paswan.  
• Other top names who could make it to the PM's lean cabinet include Ravi Shankar Prasad (for Telecommunications), Maneka Gandhi, Venkaiah Naidu (Urban Development), Shripad Naik and Ananth Kumar (Parliamentary Affairs), Nirmala Sitharaman (Commerce).
• It is not clear if Modi will assign any portfolios to L.K. Advani, Arun Shourie or Murli Manohar Joshi. But speculations are rife that Advani may become the Speaker while Shourie will hold a top advisory post.
• Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha, Karnataka CM Sidharamaiah (Congress) and Kerala CM Oomen Chandy (Congress) to skip Modi's swearing-in ceremony.
• West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee will also be missing at the ceremony but has deputed a party colleague to represent her.

The story so far:

Narendra Modi

(Narendra Modi Facebook)

Modi party and its allies won the 2014 Lok Sabha election polls with a sizeable mandate (336 out of 543). Modi broke down in tears while accepting the leadership position formally from President Pranab Mukherjee. He is becoming a popular leader with his official Facebook page garnering as much as 15 million followers in a week after he won the elections.

His full cabinet will be sworn in on the same day as him -- May 26. Modi aims to replicate the "Gujarat model" of governance in the centre. He is keen to have a leaner government with fewer ministers than fill all 84 departments. This means, instead of having separate ministers for Coal and Power, there will be a single person in charge of Energy Ministry covering both roles. 

In a bold move, Modi extended an invitation to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend the swearing-in ceremony. He invited other South Asian leaders too for the ceremony. Sharif has accepted the invitation.  

Modi resigned as Gujarat Chief Minister on May 21 after 13 years in the position.

While the new list of cabinet ministers is yet to be announced, speculations are rife that Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj will get the top posts -- Finance, Home, External Affairs and Defence.

Modi is said to favour Singh for Home and Jaitley for Finance. But Arun Shourie, a former divestment minister, too is in the race for Finance. 

It is reported that Gadkari is also vying for Finance while many feel he is best suited for crucial infrastructure portfolio such as Transport Ministry based on his execution of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Meanwhile, Swaraj is favoured for the role of Minister of External Affairs.

Other top cabinet ministers in the upcoming Modi-government could include Murli Manohar Joshi as Speaker, Ananth Kumar as Parliamentary Affairs Minister, E Sreedharan for Railways, Yashwant Sinha for Planning Commission, Venkaiah Naidu for Agriculture, Ravi Shankar Prasad as Law Minister, and Shahnawaz Hussain as Minority Affairs Minister. 

Meanwhile, ex-PM Manmohan Singh has resigned from his post but will act as a caretaker PM until the new Cabinet under Modi government is formed.