Thursday, February 16 2006 13:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Feb 16 2006) introduced new Ministers in the Lok Sabha as Opposition BJP protested induction of JMM leader Shibu Soren in the Council of Ministers.

When Singh called out Soren's name, BJP members stood up to protest induction of 'tainted persons' in the Ministry, but were shouted down by members of Treasury Benches. Amid the din, Soren greeted the members.

The other Ministers introduced by the Prime Minister were Sushil Kumar Shinde, A R Antulay, Vayalar Ravi, Murli Deora, Ambika Soni and Saifuddin Soz.

Singh also introduced the Ministers who were upgraded to the Cabinet rank. They were Santosh Mohan Deb, Prem Chand, Gupta and Kapil Sibal.

Soni and Deb were absent when their names were called out. The new Ministers of State were G K Vasan, Pawan Kumar, Bansal, T Subbirami Reddy, Anand Sharma, M M Palani Raju, Chandrashekhar Sahu, Akhilesh Das, Jairam Ramesh, Ashwini Kumar and D Purandeshwari.