New Delhi: K Jana Krishnamurthy who resigned as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president was on July 1 inducted into the Union Cabinet.

President K R Narayanan administered the oath of office and secrecy to Krishnamurthy at a ceremony in the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and several Union Ministers were present on the occasion.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Saheb Singh Verma as well as noted film actors-turned- politicians Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna also took the oath as ministers.

Minister of State Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, who has been elevated to the Cabinet rank, was also sworn-in.

PMK's N T Shanmugham has been made Minister of State with independent charge.

Eight ministers of state were sworn in including Basangouda R Patil, Sanjay Paswan, Shripad Y Naik, Vinod Khanna, Nikhil Chaudhary and S Hirunavukarasar of BJP.

The others were Shiv Sena's Anant Gangaram Geete and A K Murthy of PMK.

However, the much-speculated induction of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee failed to materialise as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee elevated Minister of State Balasaheb Vikhe Patil to Cabinet rank to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Shiv Sena representative Manohar Joshi as Lok Sabha Speaker.

PTI