New Delhi: The second round of the induction of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Council of Ministers began here at Rashtrapti Bhavan with 14 Cabinet ministers being sworn in.

The swearing-in ceremony started on time at 11.30 am with President Pratibha Patil giving the oath of office at the resplendent Ashoka Hall in the Presidential palace.

The first to be sworn in was Virbhadra Singh followed by National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh, DMK leaders Dayanidhi Maran and A. Raja, Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge and Subodh Kant Sahay who were among the 14 Cabinet ministers sworn in on Thursday. Nineteen Cabinet ministers took oath in the first round May 22.

The others who took oath were Congress’ M.S. Gill, G.K. Vasan, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mukul Wasnik, Kantilal Bhuria, Kumari Selja and DMK’s M.K. Azhagiri.

After the Cabinet ministers, seven Ministers of State with Independent charge and 38 other Ministers of State will take oath.

The was hall packed to capacity with a beaming Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi seated in the front row along with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

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