Home portfolio allocated to Amit Shah

The allocations target continuity and were largely on the lines of the previous NDA government.

Prime minister Narendra Modi chaired the first meeting of his Union Cabinet on Monday and allocated portfolios to ministers a day after taking oath in a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

Key ministries in the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government were allocated to senior leaders of the BJP: Home Affairs to Amit Shah, Defence to Rajnath Singh, External Affairs to S Jaishankar, Road Transport to Nitin Gadkari and Finance to Nirmala Sitharaman.

The allocations target continuity and were largely on the lines of the previous NDA government.

First time MP and four time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been made the Union Agriculture Minister. BJP president JP Nadda has been named Union Health Minister.