More ministers assume charge

A number of ministers today assumed office with the highlight being Shiv Sena's Anant Geete who had been sulking for being given Heavy Industries portfolio and refused to take charge yesterday.
Among others who took charge were Sushma Swaraj as External Affairs Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu as Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananth Kumar as Chemicals and Fertilizers, Uma Bharti as Water Resources, Maneka Gandhi as Women and Child Department and Jitendra Singh as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology.
Geete, who did not assume office yesterday when most of the ministers took over as he was unhappy over being given Heavy Industries portfolio, finally took charge today after the apparent assurance that he would be shifted to some better portfolio soon.

He told reporters that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had a "satisfactory" discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the portfolio allocation and the party will get "good ministry" when the Cabinet reshuffle takes place.
Claiming that he was not unhappy, he said, "since the party I come from, Shiv Sena, is connected to the people, party chief Uddhav Thackeray expected me to be given a ministry which is connected to the people."
The Shiv Sena, the oldest ally of BJP, has secured as many as 18 seats in the Lok Sabha, making it the second largest party in the NDA.

Swaraj said her priority as External Affairs Minister would be to showcase India's strengths to the world and improve relations with neighbouring countries, strategic partners, Africa, ASEAN member countries, Europe and others.