PM Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee with ministers who were inducted on Sunday. (Associated Press)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met all his ministers on Monday evening and asked them to prep for the winter session of Parliament next month, stressing on the need to answer questions appropriately in the Houses.
Speaking for about 20 minutes, he asked them to work in close coordination with each other to ensure that the BJP-led NDA government functions smoothly, sources said. Light snacks were served after the meeting, held at the PM's Race Course Road residence.
21 new ministers were inducted into the Modi government on Sunday, taking his team from a lean 45 to 66. His Cabinet has four new members after yesterday's expansion.
Many of the new ministers took charge on Monday, prominent among them Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who quit the Shiv Sena and joined the BJP just before he took oath on Sunday.
Mr Parrikar had resigned as Goa chief minister on Saturday and took over the crucial Defence portfolio from Arun Jaitley, who had held dual charge of Finance and Defence for the last six months. Mr Jaitley continues to hold a clutch of crucial portfolios; the media-savvy lawyer has also taken over as Information and Broadcasting minister.
He was called upon to defend the choice of new ministers today, with the Congress making a series of allegations against several of them. Mr Jaitley dismissed each of those as baseless.