Newly-inducted Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on Friday said everyone has a crucial role in BJP and in running the government, a day after key leaders who were part of the earlier Cabinet were dropped.
"It doesn't matter if few old ministers have not been inducted in the new cabinet. Everyone has a stake in running the government. Everyone has a crucial role in taking the party up to this level of success. I will not say that I have done something extraordinary which is why I was inducted in the cabinet again," Jyoti told .
BJP leaders Maneka Gandhi, Suresh Prabhu, JP Nadda, Radha Mohan Singh -- Cabinet ministers in the first Modi government -- have been dropped in the new government that assumed office on Thursday.
Besides the Cabinet ministers, those of minister of state rank -- Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Mahesh Sharma, Jayant Sinha, SS Ahluwalia, Vijay Goel, K Alphons, Ramesh Jigajinagi, Ram Kripal Yadav, Anant Kumar Hegde, Anupriya Patel, Satya Pal Singh -- have also not been included in the Council of Ministers.
Talking about the exclusion of former Minister of External Affairs (MEA) Sushma Swaraj, Sadhvi said, "Sushma ji is an inspiration. We have learned a lot from her. She will keep inspiring us irrespective of whether she holds any position in the cabinet or not."
Before the swearing-in, former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley opted out of the government on health reasons while Swaraj and Uma Bharti did not contest the Lok Sabha polls.
On Thursday, Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister for the second consecutive term.
The 58-member council of ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind in the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan before a gathering of over 6,000 guests that included heads of governments and states from BIMSTEC countries,
Of the new Council of Ministers, there are 24 cabinet ministers besides the Prime Minister, 9 Ministers of State with independent charge and 24 Ministers of State.
( With inputs from ANI )