19 ministers to be sworn in

New Delhi, May 22 (ANI): With barely four hours to go before Dr. Manmohan Singh is sworn in as Prime Minister for a second consecutive term, sources have revealed that along with him, 19 ministers, a majority of them from the Congress, will be sworn-in.

According to sources, apart from Dr. Singh, Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, former Chief Ministers S M Krishna, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Veerappa Moily are among those who will be inducted in the Cabinet.

Sushilkumar Shinde, S Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, Vayalar Ravi, Meira Kumar, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni, B K Handique, Anand Sharma and C P Joshi also figure in the list of ministers, Media Adviser to Prime Minister Deepak Sandhu said in a statement.

This will be followed by an expansion of the council of ministers, including ministers of state as well as those junior ministers who will hold independent charge of their portfolios, in the next few days, the statement said.

The grand ceremony will take place in Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Pratibha Patil, administer the oath of office and secrecy to Dr. Singh and his council of ministers.

The swearing-in ceremony will commence at 6.30 p.m.

The first session of the newly constituted Lok Sabha was likely to begin from June 2, and was expected to continue till June 10. (ANI)