Congress stays away from swearing-in ceremony

NEW DELHI: Congress today kept away from the oath-taking ceremony of 21 new ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers here.

"Both Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were invited to the ceremony," Power Minister Piyush Goyal said after the swearing-in ceremony here.

Asked if there was any communication from the Congress on whether they will attend the ceremony or not, Goyal did not give any details.

However, it was not clear whether any other Congress leader, apart from Gandhi and Singh, were invited for the ceremony.

Samajwadi Party's Ram Gopal Yadav was the lone Opposition leader present at Modi's Cabinet expansion exercise.

With today's expansion, the number of ministers in the Modi Cabinet has gone up to 66. A total of 21 Ministers were inducted today including four of Cabinet rank and three Ministers of State with Independent charge.