NEW DELHI
\nIndia\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on Sunday for a third term after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern.
\nHis office said he would appoint a 71-member cabinet, including 11 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally ministers.
\nModi\u2019s Hindu-natio\u00adnalist BJP ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide wins this time around, defying exit polls. He was instead forced into quick-fire talks with the 15-member coalition NDA, which guaranteed him the parliamentary numbers to govern.
\nFlanked by top BJP officials and party leaders of his coalition, Modi vowed in a ceremony marking his formal assumption of pow\u00ader to \u201cbear true allegiance to the constitution of India\u201d.
\nSouth Asian leaders from neighbouring Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka attended the ceremony, but China and Pakistan did not.
\nThe crowd also included adoring BJP loyalists, as well as celebrities such as Bollywood legend Shah Rukh Khan and billionaire tycoons Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, key Modi allies.
\nBut with Modi yet to announce details of his cabinet, the line of lawm\u00ada\u00ad\u00adkers also taking the oath of office was keenly wat\u00adched as an indication of who will be in government.
\nLarger coalition parties have demanded hefty concessions in exchange for their support. Other coalition leaders to take the oath included Ram Mohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party, the largest BJP ally with 16 seats, and which media reports has extra\u00adcted four cabinet seats.
\nRajiv Ranjan Singh also took the oath, from the BJP\u2019s next biggest ally the Janata Dal (United) with 12 seats, which has reportedly two minister posts.
\nIndian media reported widely that the top jobs including the four most powerful posts of the interior, foreign, finance and defence would remain in BJP\u2019s control. The Hindus\u00adtan Times described days of \u201chectic talks\u201d, while the Times of India said the BJP had sought to \u201cpare down\u201d their partners\u2019 demands.
\nModi\u2019s previous cabinet had 81 ministers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI India\u2019s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on Sunday for a third term after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern. His office said he would appoint a 71-member cabinet, including 11 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally ministers. Modi\u2019s Hindu-natio\u00adnalist BJP ruled outright for the past decade but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-412182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n