Narendra Modi, the architect of the Bharatiya Janata Party's landslide victory in the Gujarat assembly polls, was on Sunday sworn in as chief minister of the state for the second time.

Modi was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Sundar Singh Bhandari at a grand ceremony in Ahmedabad in the presence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his deputy Lal Kishenchand Advani and thousands of party workers and sympathisers.

Besides a number of Union ministers, chief ministers J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu), Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand) and Om Prakash Chautala (Haryana) attended the ceremony.

BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu, supercop K P S Gill, who was security adviser to Modi for some time post-Godhra, and Bollywood stars Juhi Chawla and Shekhar Suman were also present.

Nine Cabinet ministers were sworn-in along with Modi at the Sardar Patel stadium.

They are Vajubhai Vala, Ashok Bhatt, Kaushik Patel, Anandiben Patel, Narottam Patel, Ramanlal Vora, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, I K Jadeja and Mangubhai Patel.

Bavku Ughad, Dilip Thakore, Anil Patel, Prabhatsinh Chauhan, Amit Shah and Saurabh Patel took oath as ministers of state.

There are four new faces in the ministry -- Amit Shah, MLA from Sarkhej, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd Chairman Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Anil Patel representing Mehsana and Saurabh Patel from Botand.

Modi has retained seven members of his previous ministry.

Immediately after the ceremony was over, Modi sought the blessings of the prime minister, his deputy and Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi by touching their feet. The newly sworn in ministers followed suit.

Jayalalithaa felicitated Modi and presented him a shawl and a bouquet.

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