With Mummy on his mind, Modi moves ahead

There was criticism from many within the Sangh family about his choice of ministers and Shiv Sena demanded a meatier portfolio

It was a hectic first day in office for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he geared himself to cope with multiple challenges, including criticism from many within the Sangh family about his choice of ministers and a near revolt by alliance partner Shiv Sena which demanded a meatier portfolio.

Anant Geete has been named Heavy Industries minister by the PM but he did not take charge and representatives of his party met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh to seek a better job. Singh was negotiating with Sena till late in the evening.

On Twitter, staunch Modi supporter Madhu Kishwar was incandescent about the choice of Smriti Irani as Human Resources Development Minister. She tweeted: "Smriti Irani merely class 12 pass. Went to bcm fashion model on to tv serial bahu. Is this qualifcation enf 4 India's Education Minister?  Dont mind if Irani made Deputy PM in recognition of exceptional talent. But to lead India out of current educational mess, need different type."

But as PM, Narendra Modi had no time to firefight and barely time to breathe. He was closeted in bilateral meetings with leaders of SAARC countries including Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with whom the meeting spilled over to 50 minutes instead of the scheduled 30 minutes. It was only much later in the afternoon that the PM managed to spend an uninterrupted one hour in the PM’s chair, savouring his new job and contemplating the challenges it has brought with it. He tweeted his own take on his meeting with Nawaz Sharif:

"Earlier in the evening in my conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he shared some very emotional things.

"Nawaz Sharif ji told me that he stays in Islamabad but goes to meet his mother once in a week. This time when he was eating with his mother, he saw visuals on TV of my mother offering me sweets. The visuals touched both Nawaz Sharif ji and his mother. He told me that after seeing the visuals, his mother got very emotional," Modi said in a series of tweets.

However domestic challenges continued to hover. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s first statement was that he was holding the defence portfolio as a temporary charge and “there will be a cabinet expansion in a few weeks”. This made it clear that persons with dual charge – ie Prakash Javadekar who is minister for Information and Broadcasting as well as environment, two ministries that have no subject synergy – may be divested of one. The BJP said it could be any time between two and four weeks.

In the evening Modi visited his predecessor Manmohan Singh to make a courtesy call at the former PM’s new residence,  3, Motilal Nehru Place.

 Later he chaired a cabinet meeting. New Minister Nitin Gadkari requested leave from the first cabinet meeting as it was his birthday and he was leaving for Nagpur. He was given leave.