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Murli Manohar Joshi
The buzz is all about Narendra Modi’s team of 44, who made it and who did not.
The prime minister has made some surprise omissions. Here’s a look at those who were kept out.
Narendra Modi has a set new rules -- no one “below 75” will be in the team. And veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi is a victim.
Eight-year-old Joshi’s name was being discussed for the new cabinet and rumour has it that he was being considered for the defence portfolio.
Joshi, who the human resource development minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, was not invited for Modi’s tea party for soon-to-be ministers on Monday morning indicating that he did not make it.
L K Advani too is out. His name was being considered for the Lok Sabha Speaker’s post, but not for a ministerial berth.
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Amit Shah
It comes as a big surprise Modi’s right-hand man Amit Shah finds no place in the new Cabinet.
It’s believed that he wants to strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party at the all-India level. He wants to see that the gains made in terms of percentages of votes in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are multiplied, as Rediff.com’s Sheela Bhatt reports.
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Arun Shourie
Arun Shourie’s exclusion is unexpected. He was being considered for finance minister, but is likely to be picked for the role of an adviser to the government.
"Nothing was offered to me," Mr Shourie said.
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Subramanian Swamy
Former Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy’s name was doing rounds, but he too does not find a place in the Modi Cabinet.
"My not becoming a minister is PM's prerogative for whatever reason," tweeted the 74-year-old in the morning.
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Rajiv Pratap Rudy
BJP General Secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy is also not a part of government. A former aviation minister, he was considered a strong contender for a minister’s post.
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B S Yeddyurappa
The former Karnataka chief minister is snubbed by Modi because of the corruption charges against him.
An MP elected from Shimoga, B S Yeddyurappa, however, said that he was not disappointed. “I am happy to be part of the Modi team, which helped him win the elections. As far as the cases against me go, I maintain that it was a conspiracy and very shortly I will come out clean,” he told Rediff.com.
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Bandaru Dattatreya
Senior BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya, who won from the Secunderabad constituency, is not a part of the team. A former president of the BJP unit in Andhra Pradesh, he was also a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He was tipped to be the representative from the newly-formed Telangana state.