Goa gets first Cabinet Minister; UP, Bihar continue domination

Goa today got its first Cabinet minister since it achieved statehood in 1987 and the new Telangana state found representation in the Narendra Modi government while Uttar Pradesh and Bihar continued to dominate number-wise in the Union Council of Ministers.

A total of 21 new faces were inducted in today's Cabinet expansion out of which Uttar Pradesh, where BJP's stunning performance in Lok Sabha polls helped it come to power on its own, got maximum share with four Ministers followed by three representatives from Bihar.

Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat got two ministers each in the expansion which took the total strength of the Council of Ministers to 66 from 45.

Four Cabinet Ministers, three Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 14 Ministers of State were inducted in the Council of Ministers today

The other states which got representation in the expansion are Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab.

Former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar became the first Cabinet minister from the tiny coastal state while Bandaru Dattatreya became the lone representative of the new state of Telangana.

With four new inductees, representation from Uttar Pradesh has gone up to 13 which include Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself who kept the Varanasi seat, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti and Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra.

Noida MP Mahesh Sharma was included as Minister of State with Independent charge while rest three -- Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Ram Shankar Katheriya and Sadvi Niranjan Jyoti are Ministers of State. BJP had bagged 73 out of 80 seats in UP.

Bihar's representation with inclusion of three Ministers increased to eight, having the second highest representation in the Union Council of Ministers after UP.

BJP-led NDA had won 31 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state where the saffron party aims to capture power in the assembly polls next year.