Manmohan Singh (76) today took oath along with 19 Cabinet colleagues. This is the second five-year term of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.
In his team there are four new faces up till now. Another expansion of the Council of Ministers will take place in the next few days.
President Pratibha Patil administered the oath of office. Manmohan Singh was the first to take the oath at a simple and brief function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The new entrants in this second term of the UPA government are Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, Rajasthan Congress unit president CP Joshi, Congress general secretary M Veerappa Moily, and former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna.
Pranab Mukherjee is tipped to become finance minister. Earlier he hold this portfolio 25 years ago. Chidambaram will remain home minister and Antony as defence minister.
The A-team of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comprises Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram, Antony, Krishna, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Veerappa Moily, S. Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Vayalar Ravi, Meira Kumar, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni, B.K. Handique, Anand Sharma and Joshi.
