国际英语新闻：Indian new gov't sworn in

NEW DELHI, May 22 (Xinhua) -- India's new Congress-led government was sworn in Friday for a second term of five years, with Manmohan Singh taking oath as prime minister along with 19 others as cabinet ministers.

    Indian President Pratibha Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to the prime minister and ministers at the Ashoka Hallin the grand red Roman-Greek Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in central Delhi.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (R1) takes an oath of office at a swearing in ceremony in New Delhi, capital of India, May 22, 2009. India's new government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and 19 ministers, was sworn in Friday evening at the grand Roman-Greek Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in central Delhi.

While former Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee is set to become Finance Minister, other cabinet ministers are also yet to be allocated their portfolios.

    Mukherjee is seen as a stable hand and able political operator, who has a history of pushing reforms, including signing up to a WTO agreement giving nations more access to global trade in 1994 when he was Commerce Minister.

    Sources said that former Home Minister P. Chidambaram and former Defense Minister A.K. Antony are likely to retain their respective portfolios in the new government, while S.M. Krishna is tipped to be the next External Affairs Minister as the Congress Party would try to keep the important ministerial berths to itself.

    While Chidambaram has got accolades for tackling the law and order situation in the country after taking over from Shivraj Patil in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks last November, Antony is said to have handled the Defense Ministry well, with the Armed Forces owing complete allegiance to him.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (5th L) and Indian President Pratibha Patil (C) pose with newly-elected cabinet ministers following a swearing in ceremony in New Delhi on May 22, 2009

Other important Congress ministers who took the oath of office included Jaipal Reddy, Kamal Nath, who is tipped to be the next Commerce and Industry Minister, was praised for his handling of last year's WTO negotiations in Geneva, former Chief Minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (India-controlled Kashmir) Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sushil Kumar Shinde, all from the ruling Congress Party.

    Though the Congress Party is to retain the key ministerial berths, the allies also got a share of their pie, with Mamata Banerjee from the West Bengal-based Trinamool Congress Party and Sharad Pawar from the Maharashtra-based Nationalist Congress Party being sworn in. Banerjee is likely to get Railways, while Pawar would retain his agriculture ministry, the sources said.

Rahul Gandhi (L), Indian parliamentarian and son of Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Vadera (R) and Priyanka's husband Robert Vadera attend the oath-taking ceremony at the presidential palace in New Delhi May 22, 2009.

However, no one from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) major ally Tamil Nadu-based DMK, which has won 18 parliament seats, was sworn-in as cabinet ministers because of a deadlock over the allocation of ministerial berths.

    With the DMK insisting on seven ministerial berths -- three cabinet, two ministers of state (MoS) with independent charge and two other MoS - the Congress Party managers decided they would engage in another round of discussions to arrive at a compromise.

    "The DMK wants some major cabinet berths, including surface transport, railways, IT and communications and tourism. But the Congress Party is unwilling to offer more this time. Some DMK members may take oath on Tuesday, the next date for the second swearing-in ceremony of the UPA government," the sources said.