New Delhi: Four junior Ministers were this morning elevated to the Cabinet rank and nine new faces, including four former government officers, inducted as Ministers of State, in a rejig by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a focus on his agenda on good governance.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, who were all holding independent charge as State Ministers, were promoted to the Cabinet rank, which is being seen as an acknowledgement of their performance.

The new Ministers of State sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in the Rastrapathi Bhavan include Virendra Kumar, Anant Kumar Dattatreya Hegde (from Karnataka) and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, former IAS officers Alphons Kannanthanam and R.K. Singh, former diplomat Hardeep Puri and ex-Mumbai Police chief Satyapal Singh.

Two other new faces are Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a member of the Lok Sabha from Bihar, and Shiv Pratap Shukla from Uttar Pradesh. All the new Ministers are from the BJP as its allies were not part of the exercise.

Six Ministers of the Union Cabinet had put in their papers, days ahead of the reshuffle. A highlight of the third reshuffle of the Modi Cabinet in as many years was the induction of people with proven administrative ability like Puri, R.K. Singh, Satyapal Singh and Kannanthanam, underlining the Prime Minister’s efforts to give a fresh impetus to governance.

The promotion of Naqvi, Pradhan, Sitharaman and Goyal, who were all Ministers of State with independent charge, is an endorsement of their good performance, official sources said.

As Minister of State for Power, Goyal had initiated a number of reform initiatives to improve health of power distribution companies in states. Sitharaman’s elevation is also seen as a reward to her performance as Minister of State for Commerce.

With his promotion, Naqvi, who is holding charge of Minority and Parliamentary Affairs, will be the lone Muslim face in the Cabinet. Pradhan as the Oil Minister is also credited with successfully implementing government’s policies.

Nirmala Sitharaman will be the new Defence Minister, Arun Jaitley will continue as Finance Minister. Piyush Goyal will be the new Railway Minister and Suresh Prabhu who held the Railways portfolio earlier will be the new Commerce Minister. Hardip Puri will be the new Minister of State for Commerce.

Smriti Irani will be the Information and Broadcasting Minister and Nitin Gadkari will get Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry. Ananth Kumar Hegde is MoS for Skill Development with Dharmendra Pradhan as his Cabinet Minister.