The Union Cabinet Ministry 2019


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.
                Shri Narendra Modi

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.

Cabinet Ministers
1.
Shri Raj Nath Singh
Minister of Defence.
2.
Shri Amit Shah
Minister of Home Affairs.
3.
Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari
Minister of Road Transport and Highways;  and
Minister   of    Micro,   Small    and               Medium Enterprises.
4.
Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
5.
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
Minister of Finance; and Minister of Corporate Affairs.
6.
Shri Ramvilas Paswan
Minister   of   Consumer  Affairs,   Food  and Public Distribution.
7.
Shri Narendra Singh Tomar
Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural Development; and
Minister of Panchayati Raj.
8.
Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and
Minister   of   Electronics   and               Information Technology.
9.
Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal
Minister of Food Processing Industries.
10.
Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot
Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
11.
Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Minister of External Affairs.
12.
Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
Minister of Human Resource Development.
13.
Shri Arjun Munda
Minister of Tribal Affairs.
14.
Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani
Minister of Women and Child Development; and Minister of Textiles.
15.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan
Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology; and Minister of Earth Sciences.
16.
Shri Prakash Javadekar
Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and
Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
17.
Shri Piyush Goyal
Minister of Railways; and
Minister of Commerce and Industry.
18.
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel.
19.
Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
Minister of Minority Affairs.
20.
Shri Pralhad Joshi
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and
Minister of Mines.
21.
Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey
Minister     of     Skill      Development     and Entrepreneurship.
22.
Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant
Minister   of   Heavy   Industries   and   Public Enterprise.
23.
Shri Giriraj Singh
Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
24.
Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
Minister of Jal Shakti.
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
1.
Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
2.
Rao Inderjit Singh
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation; and
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Planning.
3.
Shri Shripad Yesso Naik
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.
4.
Dr. Jitendra Singh
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.
5.
Shri Kiren Rijiju
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and  Sports;  and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
6.
Shri Prahalad Singh Patel
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Culture; and
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism.
7.
Shri Raj Kumar Singh
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.
8.
Shri Hardeep Singh Puri
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.
9.
Shri Mansukh L. Mandaviya
Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Shipping; and
Minister   of   State    in   the   Ministry   of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
Ministers of State
1.
Shri Faggansingh Kulaste
Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel.
2.
Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey
Minister of State in the Ministry of Health  and Family Welfare.
3.
Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal
Minister   of    State    in    the    Ministry    of Parliamentary Affairs; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.
4.
General (Retd.) V. K. Singh
Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
5.
Shri Krishan Pal
Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
6.
Shri Danve Raosaheb Dadarao
Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
7.
Shri G. Kishan Reddy
Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
8.
Shri Parshottam Rupala
Minister   of    State    in    the    Ministry    of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
9.
Shri Ramdas Athawale
Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
10.
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development.
11.
Shri Babul Supriyo
Minister   of    State    in    the    Ministry    of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
12.
Shri Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
Minister of State in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
13.
Shri Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao
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.
14.
Shri Anurag Singh Thakur
Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance; and
Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
15.
Shri Angadi Suresh Channabasappa
Minister of State in the Ministry of Railways.
16.
Shri Nityanand Rai
Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
17.
Shri Rattan Lal Kataria
Minister of State in the Ministry of  Jal  Shakti; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
18.
Shri V. Muraleedharan
Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
19.
Smt. Renuka Singh Saruta
Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
20.
Shri Som Parkash
Minister   of    State    in Commerce and Industry.
the
Ministry
of
21.
Shri Rameswar Teli
Minister of State in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
22.
Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi
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.
23.
Shri Kailash Choudhary
Minister   of    State    in    the    Ministry    of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
24.
Sushri Debasree Chaudhuri
Minister of State in the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

RAJNATH SINGH
Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh represents Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. He has been elected from the coveted seat for the second time, before that he had representated Gautam Budhh Nagar Lok Sabha constituency in 2009. Number 2 in Modi government, Rajnath Singh is likely to be appointed as the home minister of India again.
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.
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.


Comments