|
|
Change Your Life! |
India's Vajpayee expands Cabinet |
|
News
|
|
|
October 1, 2000
NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee expanded his Cabinet on Saturday, inducting one of India's most popular woman politicians and five other ministers. Vajpayee's Cabinet now has 75 members. Portfolios were not immediately announced. President Kocheril Raman Narayanan administered the oath of office to Sushma Swaraj, a former federal minister, M. Venkaiah Naidu, a former spokesman of Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party, and four other first-time ministers, United News of India reported. Swaraj, 48, has for years been one of India's most well-known women politicians. She has been assigned tough tasks by her party in the past. In 1999, she was asked to become the chief minister, or top elected official, of the Delhi state government weeks before elections to help the fortunes of the unpopular government. Months later, she was chosen to run against Sonia Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party in a tough election battle that Swaraj lost. |