Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulates his new Ministers

NEW DELHI: Hours after his first Cabinet expansion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today congratulated his newly inducted Ministers and said he is looking forward to working with them to accelerate India's development journey.

"Congratulations to all colleagues who have taken oath today. Looking forward to working with them to accelerate India's development journey," Modi tweeted.

Modi had this afternoon carried out his first cabinet expansion inducting 21 new faces into his Council of Ministers including former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and former Shiv Sena leader Suresh Prabhu.

With today's expansion, the strength of the Union Council of Ministers goes up from 45 to 66. Of this, 27 including the Prime Minister are of Cabinet rank, 13 Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 26 Ministers of State.

Modi would be chairing the first meeting of his expanded cabinet tomorrow at 5:30 PM which would be followed by a meet of the entire Council of Ministers.