With this, the strength of the Union council of ministers goes up to 80 with 34 Cabinet ministers, seven Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 39 Ministers of State.

The brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was attended by the prime minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Cabinet ministers among others.

Ending months of speculation, Dr Singh filled the foreign office slot vacated by K Natwar Singh in the wake of the Iraqi oil scam nearly a year ago by expectedly moving Mukherjee from Defence to a position which he held in the Narasimha Rao cabinet.

Image: President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi pose for a photograph with the newly inducted ministers (R-L) A K Antony, Jaiprakash Narain Yadav and M H Ambareesh.
Photograph: Sondeep Shankar/ Saab Pictures

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