The Union Cabinet for the 17th Lok Sabha includes 24 cabinet ministers, 9 ministers of state with independent charge and 24 ministers of state. Here's a complete list of Union ministers and all you need to know about them.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers took oath to office on
Thursday. The Union Cabinet for the 17th Lok Sabha includes 24 cabinet
ministers, 9 ministers of state with independent charge and 24 ministers of
state.
The top leaders who were sworn-in as cabinet ministers include
Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, DV Sadananda Gowda, Nirmala
Sitharaman, Ram Vilas Paswan and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar, a
surprise pick.
Some of the key ministers in the previous Modi government,
including Sushma Swaraj, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Maneka Gandhi, are not
a part of the new council of ministers. Former finance minister Arun Jaitley
had written to PM Modi on Wednesday and said that he did not want to be a part
of the new government due to health reasons.
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Prime Minister and also in-charge of:
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions;
Department of
Atomic Energy; Department of Space; and
All important policy issues; and
All other
portfolios not allocated to any Minister.
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Cabinet Ministers
1.
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Shri Raj Nath Singh
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Minister of Defence.
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2.
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Shri Amit Shah
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Minister of Home Affairs.
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3.
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Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari
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Minister
of Road Transport and Highways; and
Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
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4.
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Shri D.V.
Sadananda Gowda
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Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
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5.
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Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
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Minister
of Finance; and Minister of Corporate Affairs.
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6.
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Shri Ramvilas Paswan
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Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
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7.
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Shri Narendra Singh Tomar
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Minister
of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development; and
Minister of
Panchayati Raj.
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8.
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Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad
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Minister
of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
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9.
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Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
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Minister of Food Processing Industries.
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10.
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Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot
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Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
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11.
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Dr.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
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Minister of External Affairs.
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12.
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Shri
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
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Minister of Human Resource Development.
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13.
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Shri Arjun Munda
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Minister of Tribal Affairs.
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14.
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Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani
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Minister
of Women and Child Development; and Minister of Textiles.
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15.
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Dr. Harsh Vardhan
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Minister
of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology; and
Minister of Earth Sciences.
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16.
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Shri Prakash Javadekar
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Minister
of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and
Minister of
Information and Broadcasting.
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17.
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Shri Piyush Goyal
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Minister of Railways; and
Minister of Commerce and Industry.
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18.
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Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
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Minister
of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel.
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19.
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Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
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Minister of Minority Affairs.
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20.
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Shri Pralhad Joshi
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Minister
of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and
Minister of
Mines.
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21.
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Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey
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Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
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22.
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Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant
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Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise.
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23.
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Shri Giriraj Singh
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Minister
of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
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24.
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Shri
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
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Minister of Jal Shakti.
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Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
1.
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Shri
Santosh Kumar Gangwar
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Minister
of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
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2.
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Rao Inderjit Singh
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Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of
Statistics and Programme Implementation; and
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning.
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3.
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Shri Shripad Yesso Naik
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Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of
Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence.
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4.
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Dr. Jitendra Singh
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Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of
Development of North Eastern Region;
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office;
Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and
Pensions; Minister of State in the Department of Atomic Energy; and
Minister
of State in the Department of Space.
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5.
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Shri Kiren Rijiju
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Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of
Youth Affairs and Sports; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
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6.
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Shri Prahalad Singh Patel
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Minister
of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; and
Minister
of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism.
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7.
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Shri Raj Kumar Singh
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Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power;
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship.
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8.
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Shri Hardeep Singh Puri
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Minister
of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs;
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
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9.
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Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya
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Minister
of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Shipping; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
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Ministers of State
1.
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Shri
Faggansingh Kulaste
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Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel.
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2.
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Shri
Ashwini Kumar Choubey
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Minister
of State in the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare.
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3.
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Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal
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Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; and
Minister
of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
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4.
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General
(Retd.) V. K. Singh
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Minister of State in the Ministry
of Road Transport and Highways.
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5.
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Shri Krishan Pal
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Minister
of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
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6.
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Shri
Danve Raosaheb Dadarao
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Minister of State in the Ministry
of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
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7.
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Shri G. Kishan Reddy
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Minister of State in the Ministry
of Home Affairs.
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8.
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Shri Parshottam Rupala
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Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
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9.
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Shri Ramdas Athawale
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Minister of State in the Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment.
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10.
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Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
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Minister
of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.
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11.
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Shri Babul Supriyo
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Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
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12.
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Shri
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
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Minister of State in the Ministry
of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
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13.
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Shri
Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao
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Minister
of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development;
Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
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14.
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Shri
Anurag Singh Thakur
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Minister
of State in the Ministry of Finance; and
Minister
of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
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15.
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Shri
Angadi Suresh Channabasappa
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Minister of State in the Ministry of
Railways.
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16.
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Shri Nityanand Rai
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Minister
of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
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17.
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Shri Rattan Lal Kataria
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Minister of State in the Ministry of Jal
Shakti; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
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18.
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Shri V. Muraleedharan
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Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
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19.
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Smt.
Renuka Singh Saruta
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Minister of State in the Ministry
of Tribal Affairs.
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20.
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Shri Som Parkash
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Minister of State in Commerce and Industry.
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the
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Ministry
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of
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21.
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Shri Rameswar Teli
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Minister of State in the Ministry
of Food Processing Industries.
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22.
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Shri
Pratap Chandra Sarangi
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Minister of State in the Ministry of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal
Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
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23.
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Shri Kailash Choudhary
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Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
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24.
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Sushri
Debasree Chaudhuri
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Minister
of State in the Ministry of Women and Child
Development.
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RAJNATH SINGH
Rajnath Singh had started his career as RSS volunteer but joined
politics in 1974 as secretary of Janasangh of Mirzapur region and later became
the MP from Mirzapur in 1977.
Known for his no non sense attitude, Rajnath is a soft spoken
politician and the senior most leader in the Modi Cabinet.
During his stint as home minister in the previous term, Rajnath
Singh battled with Kashmir militancy, Pakistan incursions, the emergence of
Islamic State in India among other challenges.
AMIT SHAH
Considered as BJP's key strategist, Union minister Amit Shah is
likely to get a key portfolio in Modi Cabinet 2.0. Before the Central
government, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi worked together in the Gujarat
ministry. Amit Shah's tuning with PM Narendra Modi is hailed as jodi of Jai and
Veeru.
In the 2019 general elections, Amit Shah contested and won from
Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of over 5.5 lakh votes. He
broke all records of LK Advani.
Amit Shah has had a meteoric rise in national politics in recent
years. In 2010, Shah spent time in jail for the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter
case. He got conditional bail to stay away from Gujarat. Four years later, Amit
Shah became national president of the BJP and took the party to astronomical
heights. According to party's own estimates, the BJP is today world's largest
party. Under his leadership, the BJP managed to get re-elected to Union
government with a massive increase in their vote share.
NITIN GADKARI
Known as the Highway man, 62-year-old Nitin Gadkari has been sworn
in for the second time as cabinet minister. During Modi government 1.0, Gadkari
successfully shouldered the responsibility of Shipping, Surface Transport,
Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry. He is likely to get an
important ministry in the second term as well.
Nitin Jayram Gadkari started his political career with student's
wing ABVP. At the age of 38, Gadkari served as PWD minister in the Shivsena-BJP
Govt in 1995. Gadkari was credited with building with nation's firstever
Express way from Mumbai to Pune.
Gadkari rose in the national scenario when he was made the
national president of BJP in 2009 replacing Rajnath Singh. In 2014, he
contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Nagpur seat.
As the transport minister, Gadkari is credited with building
excellent Road and Highway network with approximately 26 kms per day. Gadkari
is also known for his proximity with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Lawyer-turned-politician DV Sadananda Gowda is a returning
minister in Modi Cabinet. In the previous government, Sadananda Gowda handled
railway ministry, law and justice, statistics and programme implementation and
chemicals and fertilisers for various spans of time.
17th Lok Sabha is Sadananda Gowda's fourth entry to Parliament. In
2019 general elections, he defeated Congress heavyweight Krishna Byre Gowda, a
member of the HD Kumaraswamy ministry.
An RSS worker and a vocal ABVP leader during his college days,
Gowda started his political career from Jan Sangh, the previous avatar of BJP.
Gowda practised law for a while and became a public prosecutor too but he gave
up his law practice to pursue politics. He worked in the BJP in various
capacities right from the grass-root level.
In 2011, Sadananda Gowda became chief minister of Karnataka.
However, his term as chief minister was marred by infighting in the BJP, which
at last resulted in Gowda's resignation. In 2014, Gowda returned to Lok Sabha
by winning election from Bengaluru North constituency.
NIRMALA SITHARAMAN
Nirmala Sitharaman has risen from the ranks of the BJP and reached
the prestigious chair of the Ministry of Defence during previous Modi
government. Before becoming the first woman defence minister of India, she
handled the Minister of State portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of
Corporate Affairs and Minister of State (Independent charge) of the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
Sitharaman has served as Member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper
house of Parliament, since 2016. In 2003, during Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee's tenure, she became a member of National Women for Commission and
served on the position till 2005. Sitharaman had joined the BJP in 2006, when
Nitin Gadkari was the party chief, and she became the national spokesperson of
the party.
RAM VILAS PASWAN
Eight-time Lok Sabha MP and former Rajya Sabha member Ram Vilas
Paswan was on Thursday once again inducted into the Narendra Modi cabinet. The
Lok Janshakti Party National President was Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food
and Public Distribution in the previous Modi government.
Paswan's party had contested six Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in the
recently concluded elections and emerged victorious on all. The LJP chief this
time refrained from contesting election from Hajipur after he was assured Rajya
Sabha birth by the BJP.
Paswan began his political career way back in 1969 when he was
first elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly. He entered Lok Sabha for the
first time in 1977 from Hajipur constituency. Thereafter, he represented this
seat in 1980, 1989, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.
Paswan formed Lok Janshakti Party in 2000. He also served as a
Union Minister in UPA 1 between 2004-09. He, however, lost elections from
Hajipur in 2009 and was there after send to Rajya Sabha by RJD supremo Lalu
Prasad Yadav.
NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR
Three-time MP Narendra Singh Tomar returns to Modi Cabinet for a
second stint. In the previous term, Tomar served at the helm of several
ministries, including mines, steel, labour and employment and rural development
and panchayati raj.
Born on June 12, 1957 at Murar in Gwalior district, Tomar was
president of the Gwalior unit of the BJP youth wing from 1980-84. He was
elected as a councilor in 1983, entered the Madhya Pradesh assembly in 1998 and
served as a minister in the BJP government in the state from 2003-2007.
Later, he was appointed as state BJP president. After a brief
stint as a Rajya Sabha member, Tomar was elected to the Lok Sabha from Morena
in 2009.
It was Tomar who conducted the ceremony in the Central Hall of
Parliament when Narendra Modi was unanimously elected by the NDA's constituent
parties as their leader.
In 2014, he won the Lok Sabha election from Gwalior. He returned
to Morena in the 2019 election, winning by a margin of over 1.13 lakh votes.
RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD
PM Narendra Modi has reposed faith in senior BJP leader Ravi
Shankar Prasad and inducted him into the Union Cabinet. During the previous
Modi government, Prasad was Union Law and Justice and Electronics and
Information Technology Minister.
A noted Supreme Court advocate, 54-year old Ravi Shankar Prasad
who fought his first Lok Sabha elections from Patna Sahib in 2019, defeated
Congress's Shatrughan Sinha by a margin of over 2,85,000 votes.
Ravi Shankar Prasad was also Minister of Coal and Mines, Law &
Justice and Information and Broadcasting in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee
government. He has been three time Rajya Sabha MP earlier.
HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL
Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former Union Food Processing
Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has been reinducted in the Union Cabinet.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the wife of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and
former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law of former
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Born on July 25, 1966, Harsimrat belongs to the family of Attar
Singh Majithia, who was a prominent general in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Army.
She began her political career in 2009 by winning Bathinda Lok
Sabha election and defeating Captain Amarinder Singh's son Raninder Singh by a
margin of 1.2 lakh votes. She had won in the 2014 Lok Sabha election by
defeating her husband's cousin Manpreet Badal. Harsimrat was re-elected in 2019
from the same constituency.
THAWARCHAND GEHLOT
A prominent Dalit face of the BJP, Thawarchand Gehlot, has made
his way to the Narendra Modi cabinet for a second consecutive time. Gehlot was
appointed as the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment during the Modi
government's first stint in 2014.
Gehlot represented the Shajapur Lok Sabha seat between 1996 and
2009. Following delimitation, Shajapur constituency ceased to exist and Dewas
constituency came into being in 2008. In 2009, Gehlot lost the Lok Sabha poll
to Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma.
The BJP leader became a Rajya Sabha member in 2012 and was
re-elected to the Upper House of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh in 2018. His
Rajya Sabha term will end in 2024.
Considered close to Modi, Gehlot, one of the most noticeable faces
from the Scheduled Caste (SC), was earlier deputed as the central observer for
BJP in Gujarat.
As a minister, Gehlot scripted several schemes for the welfare of
the deprived sections of the society as well as for the physically-challenged
people.
S JAISHANKAR
PM Narendra Modi's surprise pick, S Jaishankar is a career
diplomat, who retired as the foriegn secretary of India. Jaishankar was a key
member of the Indian team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal.
He is also credited with helping resolve the Doklam stand-off between India and
China.
A 1977-batch IFS officer, Jaishankar had earlier served as India's
ambassador to the US and before that to China.
Among other positions, Jaishankar has been India's High
Commissioner to Singapore and Ambassador to the Czech Republic.
Last year, Tata Group appointed Jaishankar as its president for
global corporate affairs, within three months of his retirement from the
government service. In 2019, Jaishankar was conferred with Padma Shri, the
fourth highest civilian award of the country.
RAMESH POKHRIYAL NISHANK
Poet-politician Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank's appointment as cabinet
minister is his comeback to politics after eight years. After his term as the
Uttarakhand chief minister ended in 2011, Ramesh Pokhriyal was lost in
political wilderness, until this day. During these years, he won every election
he contested, but did not get any ministerial berth in his state or at the
Centre.
Nishank won the Doiwala assembly seat in 2012. Two years later, he
vacated the seat to contest from Haridwar in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,
defeating the then chief minister Harish Rawat's wife Renuka by 1.7 lakh votes.
In the 2019 elections, he retained the seat, defeating Ambrish Kumar of the
Congress by a bigger margin of 2.59 lakh votes.
Nishank has been elected to the state assembly five times, first
in undivided Uttar Pradesh and later Uttarakhand from 1991 to 2014.
He is said to be close to BJP president Amit Shah and Nitin
Gadkari. He is also known for proximity to yoga guru Ramdev.
Nishank is a prolific Hindi writer with 36 works to his credit, of
which 10 have been translated into other languages.
ARJUN MUNDA
Prominent tribal leader Arjun Munda is a three-time chief minister
and favourite among public not only in his home state of Jharkhand but also in
neighbouring Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Munda, who began his career with the JMM during the statehood
struggle before joining the saffron brigade, was first elected as MLA in 1995
in undivided Bihar and went on to win three consecutive terms from Kharsawan
before losing the seat in 2014.
Munda first became chief minister in March 2003, when he replaced
the state's first chief minister Babulal Marandi after JDU and Samata Party
MLAs had revolted against the latter's style of functioning. He was the tribal
affairs minister in the first Marandi-led NDA government.
The 51-year-old tribal leader also won a by-election for Lok Sabha
seat from Jamshedpur and held the post of BJP's national general secretary.
In 2019, Munda edged out Congress's Kalicharan Munda by a wafer
thin margin of just 1445 votes in Khunti(ST) seat besides campaigning for the
BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
SMRITI IRANI
Smriti Irani is back with a bang. In 2014, Smriti Irani had become
the yougest cabinet minister and held several illustrious portfolios, including
HRD, Textiles and Information & Broadcasting Minister. In 2019, she has
been reinducted in the Union Cabinet and is likely to be alloted a key
portfolio.
Smriti Irani, who lost Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2014,
emerged a giant-killer of 2019 by defeating the Congress president Rahul Gandhi
in his home turf.
Irani was part of Modi cabinet as a rajya Sabha MP. She was
elected to the Upper House in 2011 and re-elected in 2017 for a second term.
An eloquent speaker, she was often the BJP's first choice for
addressing the party's press conferences and defending it during debates in
Parliament.
Dr HARSH VARDHAN
Doctor-turned-politician Harsh Vardhan is the only MP from the
national capital to get a place in Narendra Modi's council of ministers. Dr
Harsh Vardhan served as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare during the
Modi government's first stint in 2014 and was later given the charge of the
Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Science and Technology.
Dr Harsh Vardhan was the health minister of Delhi in 1994. During
his tenure as health minister of Delhi, he had successfully launched the Pulse
Polio Programme, which was later launched nationwide for immunisation of
millions of children against polio.
PRAKASH JAVADEKAR
Prakash Javadekar is among the returning cabinet ministers in Team
Modi 2.0. In the previous Modi government, Prakash Javadekar rose from a
minister of state with independent charge to HRD minister.
He was first inducted in Modi Cabinet as MoS for environment with
independent charge. Later, he was given the charge information and broadcasting
ministry for brief time and finally was made cabinet minister for human
resource development.
A long-time RSS worker, Prakash Javdekar was known as the right
wing organisation's choice for handling the HRD ministry and working on
preparing draft for national education policy.
Prakash Javadekar was elected to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh
in 2014 re-elected in 2018. His tenure ends in 2024.
PIYUSH GOYAL
BJP's go-to-man, Piyush Goyal took oath of office to Union Cabinet
for a second stint as minister on Thursday. During the last Modi government,
Piyush Goyal held coal, power, railways and finance portfolios for different
time spans.
A chartered accountant by profession, Goyal, known for his
corporate network developed during his days as an investment banker, is
considered to be a key backroom strategist who played a significant role in
resource mobilisation of the party.
Considered a blue-eyed boy of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and BJP president Amit Shah, Goyal was given the finance portfolio during Arun
Jaitley's absence due to ill health.
As a railway minister, Goyal, a Rajya Sabha member, achieved
several firsts, including announcement of first bullet train. He is also
credited for making transformational changes in India's power sector, including
fast tracking of electrification of nearly 18,000 unelectrified villages.
DHARMENDRA PRADHAN
Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP's face in Odisha, has found a spot in the
Modi Cabinet for the second time. During the previous term, Dharmendra Pradhan
served as Union minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas.
As Union minister, Pradhan was credited for leading the Pradhan
Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from the front. The party credits Dharmendhra
Pradhan for significant in roads in BJD dominated Odisha. During the recently
concluded assembly elections in Odisha, BJP managed to increase its seat share
from 10 to 13. Intrestingly, the winning party BJD had won a vote share of 44.7
per cent, while BJP which was a distant second in terms of seats managed a vote
share of 32.5 per cent.
MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI
BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is the lone Muslim in the
cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has won the 2019 Lok Sabha
elections on the slogan 'sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas'. Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi, who has found himself back in the Council of Ministers for a
second stint, will have the responsibility of winning the hearts of minorities
and taking forward the 'development without appeasement' policy.
Naqvi was the Minority Affairs Minister in the previous
dispensation and is credited with major reforms in the Haj policy.
During his tenure, the Haj subsidy was done away with under a new
policy and women were allowed to go on the pilgrimage without Mehram or a male
companion.
If he gets the Minority Affairs portfolio again, he would look to
take forward the welfare policies and reforms while having the added
responsibility of winning the hearts of minorities.
PRALHAD JOSHI
Pralhad Joshi, 56, has been elected MP from Darwad in Karnataka
for the fourth consecutive term.
Joshi is among three other parliamentarians from Karnataka who
have landed a ministerial berth in the Modi government that was sworn in on
Thursday. Suresh Chanabasappa Angadi, the MP from Belagavi district, DV
Sadananda Gowda, who served as minister for statistics and planning, and
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Rajya Sabha MP from the state and defence minister in
the previous cabinet, will be the other three representing Karnataka.
Born into a Brahmin family, Joshi rose to prominence in the
northern Karnataka district of Dharwad with the BJP and eventually replaced
Vijay Sankeshwar in 2004 to contest from the Dharwad North constituency, which
has been with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 1996.
MAHENDRA NATH PANDEY
Mahendra Nath Pandey has made a comeback in Modi Cabinet. Pandey
served as a Union minister of state (MoS) in the Ministry of Human Resource
Development between 2016 and 2017.
He was given the responsibility of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit in
2017 after the party's massive win in the assembly elections. Leading the
charge of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Pandey
played a significant role in wooing the upper caste in favour of the party. And
party rewarded him.
Active in politics since his collge days at Benras Hindu
University, Pandey took active part in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and was
booked under the National Security Act by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in
the state.
ARVIND SAWANT
From building the party's organisation in northern Maharashtra's
Dhule to wresting the high-profile Mumbai South seat, it has been a long
journey for Shiv Sena lawmaker Arvind Sawant who has got a berth in Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet.
Known as a leader accessible to party workers and people, Sawant
made a mark during his first term in the Lok Sabha in 2014 with his speeches
which reflected a detailed analysis of the issues concerned and suggestions on
policy decisions.
The 68-year-old leader, who retained his Mumbai-South seat this
time by defeating Congress's Milind Deora by over 1 lakh votes, has been
associated with the Shiv Sena since the party's early years.
GIRIRAJ SINGH
Giriraj Singh, who reluctantly contested against CPIM candidate
Kanhaiya Kumar in Begusarai and won, has been reinducted in Modi Cabinet for a
second stint.
During the first term of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at
the Centre, Giriraj served as a member of the Standing Committee on Labour and
Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament.
On November 2014, which saw the first expansion of the Modi
cabinet, Giriraj Singh was made a Union Minister of State in the Ministry of
Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. In 2017, he was made a Union Minister of
State (Independent Charge) of the same ministry.
Giriraj won his first election to Lok Sbaha in 2014 from the
Nawada parliamentary seat in Bihar. He, however, was given a ticket from
Begusarai in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Though upset with the change in seat,
Giriraj defeated his nearest rival Kanhaiya Kumar of the CPI by a staggering
4.2 lakh votes.
GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT
Second-time Lok Sbaha MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is ready for his
second stint in the Union ministry.
Shekhawat, who has returned to Lok Sabha after defeating Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's son from the high-stakes Jodhpur seat, was made
the minister of state for agriculture and farmers' welfare in September 2017.
As an MP, Shekhawat contributed to the development of the civil
airport of Jodhpur city, which is also known as the 'blue city', and expansion
of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
The 51-year-old had defeated Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot in
Jodhpur by over 2.7 lakh votes. The chief minister had represented the
constituency five times since 1980.
Full list of ministers of state with independent charge with
profiles
KIREN RIJIJU
One of the most prominent faces of the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) in the Northeast, Kiren Rijiju, has represented the Arunachal West
constituency in the Indian Parliament after he was elected as a member of the
14th Lok Sabha. He is now among those nine ministers of state with independent
charge who form a part of the Union Cabinet for the 17th Lok Sabha.
A Delhi University graduate, he is an excellent orator and has
travelled worldwide. Often referred to as the voice of Northeast India, he had
also been chosen as the best young MP by many media agencies. In the 2009 Lok
Sabha election, he was defeated by a very thin margin of 1,314 votes by the
Congress candidate.
But he was re-elected from the same constituency after defeating
Congress's Takam Sanjoy by a margin of 43,738 votes in 2014 Lok Sabha
elections.
SANTOSH GANGWAR
Representing the Bareilly constituency in the Indian parliament,
Santosh Gangwar won the Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket and first became an MP in
1989. He served for six successive terms. He has held various posts such as
Union Minister of State (independent charge) Ministry of Textile; Ministry of
Parliamentary Affairs; and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and
Ganga Rejuvenation.
In the outgoing Modi government, he was in-charge of the Ministry
of Labour and Employment.
During the Lok Sabha elections 2019, Gangwar retained the Bareilly
seat, defeating his nearest rival, Bhagwat Saran Gangwar of the SP, by a margin
of 1,67,282 votes. An alumnus of the Agra and the Rohilkhand University, he has
worked for the public on a huge scale in Bareilly.
SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK
Inducted into the Union Cabinet for another term, he represents
the Bharatiya Janata Party from North Goa constituency. A recipient of the
Samaraj Ratna Award, he has served as a member of the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th
Lok Sabha. In 2014, Naik was allotted the AAYUSH (independent charge) and
Health & Family Welfare ministries in the Cabinet reshuffle. Before that,
he was the MoS with independent charge for culture, tourism. He has played a
key role in growth of the saffron outfit in Goa.
In 1999, he became the first Lok Sabha Member of Parliament of the
BJP from Goa. Naik defeated Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar by a margin
of over 80,000 votes in the 2019 general election. He became a Minister of
State handling civil aviation, culture and tourism portfolios during the Modi
government's first stint in 2014.
Responsible for propagating yoga across the world, he was
considered equal in stature to Parrikar in state politics. Naik said his
induction in the new Modi Cabinet was an honour for Goa.
JITENDER SINGH
An endocrinologist and spokesman in the state of Jammu and Kashmir
representing BJP, Jitendra Singh has been sworn-in as Minister of State with
independent charge. In 2014, he won the Udhampur seat for the 16th Lok Sabha in
the general elections.
He was the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and
Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Space until the dissolution of 16th
Lok Sabha recently.
He turned out to be victorious with the highest ever winning
margin in Jammu and Kashmir in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, for which he was
felicitated by the party. He won by 3.57 lakh votes defeating Congress's
Vikramaditya Singh, the son of Jammu and Kashmir's last prince Karan Singh, in
the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat.
A graduate from Stanley Medical College, Chennai and All India
Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, brought major changes in resolving
governance related grievances received from people across the country, which
was one of the key focus areas of the government.
RAO INDERJIT SINGH
A member of Bharatiya Janata Party, he represents Gurugram in
Haryana and has served as Cabinet Minister for the Environment, Minister of
State for External Affairs and as Minister of State for Defence Production. His
constituency saw many developmental projects coming to the region during his
tenure such as AIIMS Rewari, improvement in road infrastructure and setting up
of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority.
Son of Rao Birendra Singh Haryana's second Chief Minister, Rao
Inderjit Singh has also been a member of the Indian shooting team from 1990 to
2003 and was also a national champion in Skeet. The 69-year-old defeated
Congress veteran Ajay Singh Yadav, a six-time MLA from Rewari, by 3,86,256
votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Rao Inderjit Singh believes the mantra of his and his party's success is good
governance, development and trust. The leader, during his stint as Union
minister in the Modi government has served as Union Minister of State for
Planning and Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers.
RK SINGH
A former bureaucrat and a member of the Indian Parliament since
May 2014, RK Singh represents the Arrah constituency. He has served as the
Minister of State for power and new and renewable energy in the outgoing
government and executed the launch of household electrification scheme
Saubhagya, one of the poll planks of Modi government. In Arrah, RK Singh
defeated his nearest rival Raju Yadav of CPI (ML) by a margin of 147285 votes.
A 1975 batch Bihar cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
officer and former Home Secretary of India, Singh played an important role in
enhancing the roads conditions in Bihar, during the Nitish Kumar government's
first term (2004-2009). He was the principal secretary in the road construction
department.
HARDEEP SINGH PURI
Author of several books and research papers, Hardeep Singh Puri
has been sworn in as a Minister of State (independent charge) and was greeted
with cheers of 'Jo bole so nihaal' as he took oath in English.
He is a former bureaucrat and Minister of State for urban affairs
(independent charge), Hardeep Puri lost in Amritsar by a margin of over 99626
votes against Congress's Gurjeet Singh Aujala, but still managed to retain his
berth and was re-inducted into Modi's council of ministers.
A former officer of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) 1974 batch, he
has served as the permanent representative of India to the United Nations (UN)
from 2009 to 2013. It was because of Bharatiya Janata Party's approach to
national security that he decided to join the same in January 2014.
MANSUKH MANDAVIYA
Mansukh Mandaviya, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, joined the
Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in his youth and has been politically
active ever since. Senior leaders from the party took his organizational skills
into account and henceforth, gave him the responsibility of Yuva Morach of
Palitana. He then served as the president of Palitana BJP unit.
At the age of 46, he has become a Union minister for a second term.
In the previous government, Mansukh Mandaviya was Minister of
State for Road Transport, Highways, Chemical and Fertilisers and Shipping.
Yesterday, on Thursday, the young parliamentarian drove to the Rashtrapati
Bhavan on a bicycle, from his residence in new Delhi, to take oath as a
minister.
PRAHALAD SINGH PATEL
A representative of the Damoh Loksabha Constituency in Madhya
Pradesh, Prahlad Singh Patel is an advocate by profession and was once
considered a political protege of Uma Bharti. In 1989, he became a member of
the 9th Lok Sabha and then got re-elected to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996 for a
second time, 13th Lok Sabha in 1999 and 16th Lok Sabha in 2014. In the third
Vajpayee Ministry, he was the minister of state for coal. It is after 15 years
that he has obtained a position in the Union council of ministers.
In 2000, Prahlad Singh Patel brought a private bill for ban on cow
slaughter in Parliament.
Prahlad Singh Patel separated from the BJP in 2005 but re-united
after three years. He started his political journey in 1980 as the president of
the Jabalpur University Students' Union. He subsequently held powerful
positions in the BJP's youth wing in the state. A strict vegetarian and a
deeply religious man, he is among the few politicians who have done the
'Narmada Parikrama', a walk along the banks of the river, considered sacred.
Full list of ministers of state with profiles
ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL
Former IAS officer Arjun Ram Meghwal was sworn in as minister of
state (MoS) after being elected to the Lok Sabha for the third consecutive time
from Rajasthan's Bikaner. Frst elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009, he was born in
a family of weavers at Kishmidesar village in Bikaner. A recipient of the best
parliamentarian Award, 2013, he defeated his cousin and Congress candidate
Madangopal Meghwal. Perceived as a soft-spoken politician, Arjun Ram Meghwal is
a law graduate and did his MBA from the University of Philippines. He took
charge as Union minister of state for parliamentary affairs, water resources,
river development and Ganga rejuvenation in September 2017.
ASHWINI KUMAR CHAUBEY
Born
on January 2, 1953, Ashwini Kumar Chaubey took oath as Union Minister in the
new Modi government at a big ceremony held yesterday, on May 30, at the
Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Ashwini Kumar Choubey has served as the Minister
of State for Health and Family Welfare from 2014 to 2019 in the outgoing
government. Representing the Buxar constituency, he had got built 11,000
toilets for minority and below poverty line families, under the Swachh Bharat
mission. In 2012, he had also served as the health minister in the Nitish Kumar
cabinet.
FAGGAN KULASTE
Former
Minister of State for Health, Faggansingh Kulaste, a tribal leader from Madhya
Pradesh, has made it to the council of ministers for the second time.
A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member, he represents the Mandla
constituency of Madhya Pradesh and has served as Minister of State in Vajpayee
ministry from 1999. He has been a six-time MP and won from the tribal Mandla
Lok Sabha seat in 1996 for the first time. Later, he won the ST-reserved seat
in the Mahakoshal region of the state in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2014 and now 2019.
In Mandla, he was ahead by 8,394 votes over Congress Kamal Singh Marawi.
RAOSAHEB DANVE
Maharashtra
BJP chief Raosaheb Danve, a five-time MP who was a Union minister for a short
period during the first term of the Modi government, returned as a minister of
state. Born in 1955, Raosaheb Dadarao Patil Danve won the Lok Sabha elections
from Jalna seat in Maharashtra. He has represented the seat in 13th and 14th
Lok Sabha too.
KRISHAN PAL GURJAR
Born
in 1957, Krishan Pal Gurjar won the Lok Sabha election from Faridabad seat in
Haryana. He is a former Haryana BJP chief and a veteran in state politics. He
came into limelight with his debut Lok Sabha polls in 2014 when he trounced his
Congress rival and four-time MP Avtar Singh Bhadana. The 61-year-old leader
from Haryana defeated Bhadana again in this general election, by a margin of
over six lakh votes. He has been sworn in as a Minister of State in the
Narendra Modi-led Union cabinet.
During his stint, the Delhi Metro was made operational up to
Ballabhgarh and much delayed Kundli-Manesar-Palwal and Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal
expressways opened.
GENERAL (Retd) VK SINGH
A
decorated Army officer, General Vijay Kumar Singh served as the 24th Chief of
Army Staff. He was the first commando to be promoted to general and was the
first serving Indian military chief to take the government to court.
After briefly supporting Anna Hazare in his anti-corruption crusade, Singh joined the BJP in March 2014. He contested the Lok Sabha polls from Ghaziabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh where he defeated actor-politician Raj Babbar by a record 5.67 lakh votes, the second highest margin of victory after PM Narendra Modi's.
After briefly supporting Anna Hazare in his anti-corruption crusade, Singh joined the BJP in March 2014. He contested the Lok Sabha polls from Ghaziabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh where he defeated actor-politician Raj Babbar by a record 5.67 lakh votes, the second highest margin of victory after PM Narendra Modi's.
GANGAPURAM KISHAN REDDY
The
state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president of Telangana, Gangapuram Kishan
Reddy started his career as a youth leader in late twentieth century. From 2002
to 2005, he served as the National President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
He has been the member of the legislative assembly representing Amberpet
assembly segment.
PARSHOTTAM RUPALA
1954
born Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala represents the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in
the state of Gujarat. Before debuting in politics, he served as a school principal
from 1977 to 1983. He was serving as the Union Minister of State for Panchayati
Raj, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in the outgoing government. He was a
former member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly from Amreli.
RAMDAS ATHAWALE
Earlier
served as the Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment in the Narendra
Modi government, Ramdas Athawale from Maharashtra was born on December 25,
1959. Before this, he was the Lok Sabha MP from Pandharpur. He has also been
the editor of a weekly magazine called Bhumika. On the question of Modi's
leadership of NDA following the 2019 elections, he had said earlier that the
Modi government will continue to lead the country after 2019 and with a far
greater majority than 2014.
SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI
Sworn
in as a Minister of State in the Narendra Modi-led Union cabinet yesterday,
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti has been a minister in the first Narendra Modi
government. She is now back in the House after winning from Fatehpur
parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh, improving her victory margin this
time by over 70,000 votes. The MP has been a strong advocate of promoting
afforestation, social and cultural values, protecting cows, uplifting poor
children etc.
BABUL SUPRIYO
Born
Babul Supriyo Baral, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Asansol in West Bengal
for a second term and took oath as a minister on Thursday. He comes from a
musical family and was greatly influenced by his grandfather, Banikantha NC
Baral, a noted Bengali vocalist and composer. It was during a flight as a co passenger
of Yoga Guru Ramdev, that he found his calling in politics. It was Ramdev, who
offered Supriyo, an ardent follower of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra modi,
to contest election on a BJP ticket. He agreed and the rest is history.
He contested on a BJP ticket from Asansol Lok Sabha seat and won
the polls with a handsome margin.
SANJEEV BALYAN
A
BJP member, he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 from the Muzaffarnagar
constituency after trouncing BSP's Kadir Rana by a margin of more than four
lakh votes. In the 2019 general election, he defeated Ajit Singh of the
Rashtriya Lok Dal by a margin of 6,500 votes. He was appointed the minister of
state for agriculture and food processing in the National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) government in May 2014.
SANJAY SHAMRAO DHOTRE
Sanjay
Shamrao Dhotre is a member of the 16th Lok Sabha of India, representing the
Akola constituency of Maharashtra. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and has also served as a member of the 14th Lok Sabha and 15th Lok Sabha
between 2004-2014 from Akola.
ANURAG THAKUR
Anurag
Thakur has been being sworn in as a Union minister on Thursday. Son of former
chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Anurag Thakur had won the Hamirpur
constituency for the fourth time by defeating Ram Lal Thakur of the Congress by
nearly four lakh votes, a record margin for the constituency. He had got a vote
share of 69.04 per cent by bagging over 6.8 lakh votes.
Thakur had received the 'Best Young Parliamentarian Award' in
2011. He had also remained chief whip of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in
the Lok Sabha.
SURESH ANGADI
A
four-time member of Lok Sabha from Belgaum Lok Sabha constituency, Suresh
Angadi is also an educationist whose institutions offer courses in commerce,
science, computer science, business administration and engineering. Suresh
Angadi belongs to the dominant Lingayat community, who form the core electoral
base of BJP, particularly in north Karnataka. He has always maintained his
popularity graph high as he never saw defeat ever since he took a plunge into
electoral politics in 2004.
In the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election, he defeated Congress
candidate V S Sadhunnavar.
NITYANAND RAI
Seen
as the BJP's Yadav face in Bihar, where the party has been traditionally
identified with the upper castes and the members of his community have been
ardent supporters of Lalu Prasad's RJD, Nityanand Rai has undergone a meteoric
rise in the last half decade. He retained his seat in the recent general
elections wherein he defeated former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha by over
2.77 lakh votes.
RATTAN LAL KATARIA
Entering
Parliament for the third time, Rattan Lal Kataria is often seen as the BJP's
Dalit face in Haryana. The Ambala MP Kataria (67) defeated former Union
minister and Congress veteran Kumari Selja by a margin of 3.42 lakh votes to
win from Ambala. He was spokesperson of Haryana BJP in early 1980s and served
as the party's state unit president between 2001 and 2013. Known for penning
short poems, Kataria is a law graduate.
V MURALEEDHARAN
Born
in a Congress family in Thalassery, V Muraleedharan joined the Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) during his student days. Muraleedharan headed the
local unit of the ABVP during Emergency. His oratory skills and leadership
qualities helped him to rise in the party lines. He is a graduate in English
literature and language from Brennen College in Thalassery.
RENUKA SINGH
Former
state minister Renuka Singh of the BJP defeated her Congress rival Khel Sai
Singh in Surguja by a huge margin of 1,57,873 votes. She was the member of
Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly from Premnagar Assembly constituency during
2003-2008.
SOM PRAKASH
Som
Parkash, a former IAS officer and two-time MLA from the Phagwara Assembly
constituency, was born in April 1949. He has pursued MA (Economics) from the
Panjab University, Chandigarh. Som Parkash is a first-time MP elected from the
Hoshiarpur (SC) constituency and was sworn in as a Union minister of state on
Thursday. A prominent Dalit face in Punjab's Doaba region, Som Parkash defeated
Congress nominee and legislator Raj Kumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur by just
48,530 votes.
RAMESWAR TELI
A
two-term MP from Dibrugarh in Assam and a tea-tribe leader who is into active
politics since his student days, Dibrugarh's sitting BJP MP Rameswar Teli won
by a high margin of 3,64,566 votes over former Union minister of the Congress,
Paban Singh Ghatowar. The 49-year-old leader had made his foray into electoral
politics in 2001 when he won from Duliajan assembly constituency, which is
under Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat, on a BJP ticket and retained it in 2006.
PRATAP CHANDRA SARANGI
Pratap
Chandra Sarangi, popularly known as Odisha's Modi, who was elected from the
Balasore Lok Sabha constituency, sworn in as a Minister of State (MoS) in the
Modi cabinet on Thursday. Though an RSS pracharak, Pratap Chandra Sarangi had
fought the 2009 Odisha assembly elections as an Independent candidate. A good
orator, both in Odia and Sanskrit, the RSS follower, is popular for riding
around villages in a bicycle.
BARMER KAILASH CHOUDHARY
First-time
MP, Kailash Choudhary, was sworn in Thursday as minister of state in the
Narendra Modi-led government. He is entering Parliament after defeating a
Congress heavyweight, former Union minister Jaswant Singh's son Manvendra
Singh. He is the president of the Rajasthan unit of the BJP's Kisan Morcha and
has been active on farmers' issues. He won from Jat-dominated Barmer, the
constituency which occupies the biggest area in Rajasthan, by a margin of over
three lakh votes.
DEBASREE CHAUDHURI
A
prominent face in the BJP's Bengal brigade, Debasree Chaudhuri is third-time
lucky in her electoral battles. She worked in the party's youth wing and
women's front for years and has been one of the general secretaries of the
party's state unit for the last couple of years. In 2016, she unsuccessfully
contested the assembly polls. This time the party fielded her from Raiganj, one
of the seats which the BJP was highly hopeful about. She defeated TMC's
Kanaialal Agarwal by 60,574 votes.
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