New Delhi, June 1 (TIWN): Narendra Modi was on Thursday sworn in as the 15th Prime Minister of India for the second term helming a 58-member ministry with BJP chief Amit Shah making his debut as a Union minister and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar emerging as a surprise pick while party veteran Sushma Swaraj was among the former ministers who were kept out of the Council of Ministers.

Besides Swaraj, who did not contest the elections citing health issues, eight-time MP Maneka Gandhi and former minister of women and child development, six-time MP Radha Mohan Singh who handled the crucial agriculture portfolio have not made the cut. The decision to keep Radha Mohan out seems to be influenced by the fact that over the last five years, the farm sector has been ravaged by a severe agricultural crisis that led to farmers' suicide and protests across the country. Maneka, news channels have reported, could be the pro-tem Speaker of Lok Sabha. Meanwhile, Swaraj, who is not a minister in the BJP government for the first time, may have excused herself on health grounds.