Seven Cabinet ministers, including new faces K. Rehman Khan and Chandresh Kumari, and 15 Ministers of State were sworn in on Sunday as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expanded his Council of Ministers.
Five Ministers of State - Dinsha Patel, M.M. Pallam Raju, Harish Rawat, Ajay Maken and Ashwani Kumar - were promoted to Cabinet rank.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari and actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi were brought in as Ministers of State with independent charge, while Shashi Tharoor made a comeback as Minister of State after over two years.
Twelve new Ministers of State were sworn in. They are Tariq Anwar (Maharashtra), Kodikkunnil Suresh (Kerala), A.H. Khan Chowdhry, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhry and Deepa Dasmunshi, (West Bengal), Sarve Satyanarayana, K. Jaya Suyra Prakash Reddy, P. Balram Naik, and Killi Kriparani (Andhra Pradesh).
Lalchand Kataria (Rajasthan), Ranee Narah (Assam) and Ninong Ering (Arunachal Pradesh) are the others who were sworn in as MoS.