PM Modi’s new team a mix of educated and experienced leaders: Here’s a look at their profile
KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)
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Summary
In terms of experience, there are former chief ministers, former cabinet ministers, MPs with three or more terms, former state MLAs in the new team of PM Modi
The new team of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a mix of educated and experienced leaders. The Cabinet reshuffle on July 7 saw 43 leaders taking oath for various ministerial berths in the Modi cabinet.
Apart from caste and age of the ministers, the selection was based on the education and experience of ministers, and portfolios were allocated accordingly in the cabinet rejig. Among 36 new faces, there are lawyers, civil servants, doctors and engineers.
In terms of experience, there are former chief ministers, former cabinet ministers, MPs with three or more terms and former MLAs.
Here’s a look at the profile of the newly-appointed ministers:
Cabinet Ministers
Narayan Rane – Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Experience: Former Maharashtra chief minister. He began his political career as a ‘shakha pramukh’ (local ward chief) in the Shiv Sena. He was a Congress leader for 12 years. He formed his own party Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha in 2017 and he merged it with the BJP in 2018.
Sarbananda Sonowal – Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
Education: BA, LLB
Experience: Former Assam Chief Minister and former Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Development. He started his political journey as a student leader and then joined AG before switching to BJP.
Jyotiraditya Scindia – Ministry of Civil Aviation
Education: A graduate from Harvard University; MBA degree holder from Stanford University
Experience: He had contested his maiden election as a Congress candidate in 2002, a bypoll in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency. In 2007, he was inducted into the UPA government and remained a part of the Union Cabinet till 2014 by serving as a MoS for communications, commerce, and industry and power. In 2014, he was again elected from Guna, his traditional seat for a fourth time. He lost 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Guna. He had recently joined the BJP and is a Rajya Sabha MP.
Ashwini Vaishnaw – Ministry of Railways; Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Education: MBA from Wharton School, Pennsylvania University and M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. A former Odisha cadre IAS officer from the 1994 batch
Experience: He has worked as the District Magistrate-cum-Collector of Balasore and Cuttack districts. His bureaucratic acumen, in fact, came to the fore when the super cyclone hit Odisha in 1999. He was appointed as deputy secretary in the office of former prime minister AB Vajpayee. He was later appointed as Vajpayee’s private secretary after the NDA lost the election in 2004. He is the Rajya Sabha MP
Ram Chandra Prasad Singh – Ministry of Steel
Education: He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in History from Patna College and did Masters in International relations From School of International studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University,
Experience: A 2-time Rajya Sabha MP, JD(U) national president. Bihar Chief Minister appointed him as his principal secretary after assuming power.
Virendra Kumar – Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Education: PhD in a subject related to child labour
Experience: Seven-time Lok Sabha MP; former MoS for WCD and Minority Affairs. He elected as an MP for the first time from Sagar in 1996. He was a Protem Speaker for 17th Lok Sabha.
Pashupati Kumar Paras – Ministry of Food Processing Industries
Experience: He began his innings in 1978 as a Janata Party MLA from Alauli in his native Khagaria district, Bihar. He represented the assembly segment several times, on tickets of the Janata Dal and later from the LJP. He became a member of the Nitish Kumar cabinet in the state in 2017 when the chief minister realigned with the NDA. He made his parliamentary debut from Hajipur. He is also the national president of the breakaway faction of the LHP.
Bhupender Yadav – Ministry of Environment; Labour and Employment
Profession: Supreme Court lawyer
Experience: He is serving a second term as the Rajya Sabha MP. The BJP general secretary was also chairman of the Joint Committee on Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015. He has also part of the party’s brain trust to strategise for important state assembly polls and was often dubbed as the “committee-man”, as he once chaired around eight select committees and successfully persuaded all parties in building a consensus on many contentious bills.
Minister of State
Pankaj Choudhary – MoS for Finance
Experience: A six-time Lok Sabha MP, Pankaj Choudhary began his political career in 1989-91 as a member of the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation, soon to become it’s deputy mayor. He was elected for the first time to the lower house of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj in 1991.
Anupriya Patel – MoS for Commerce and Industry
Experience: Anupriya was a minister of state at the Centre from 2016 to 2019. This is her second stint in the Union council of ministers. Her inclusion in the Modi’s team is significant ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year and the Lok Sabha polls in 2024 as the Other Backward Classes (OBC) have a sizeable number of voters in the key Purvanchal region.
SP Baghel – MoS for Law and Justice
Experience: A party-hopper, Baghel was a member of the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004 as an SP MP. He then unsuccessfully contested two Lok Sabha elections as a BSP candidate. In 2014, Baghel was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a BSP nominee. Baghel became president of the BJP OBC Morcha in 2015 and two years later he became a BJP MLA from Tundla before getting elected to the Lok Sabha again, this time on a BJP ticket from Agra.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar – MoS for Skill Development; Electronics and IT
Education: Bachelors in Electrical Engineering, and Masters in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Chicago
Experience: A BJP Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, he has worked on areas such as urban governance and veteran and armed forces issues. He is serving his third term in the Upper House. He founded BPL Mobile in 1994. He, however, exited the cellular sector in 2005. In 2005, he founded Jupiter Capital, an investment and financial services firm. He has served as the youngest President of industry chamber FICCI in 2008-09.
Shobha Karandlaje – MoS for Agriculture
Education: M.A. (Sociology) and Master of Social Work
Experience: Once considered as a close confidant of state BJP strongman and Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa, she was a surprise pick in the Union cabinet expansion. A two-time Lok Sabha member from Udupi-Chikmagalur, she is also the state BJP vice president. With an RSS background, she has grown through the ranks. She was MLC from 2004 – 2008, MLA from 2008 – 2013, and served as Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Power, and Food and Civil Supplies during the previous BJP government.
Bhanupratap Singh Verma – MoS for MSME
Experience: A five-time Lok Sabha MP. He become an MLA in 1991. In 2001, he became vice-president of the UP BJP’s SC Morcha and a decade later, he became its president. As an MP, he was a member of the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Darshana Vikram Jardosh – MoS for Textiles, Railways
Experience: A three-time Lok Sabha MP from Surat. She had held the position of the vice president of Surat BJP’s ward no. 8 committee in the late 1980s and was later elected as a corporator from the same ward in 2000. She was appointed as the president of the women’s wing of the Surat BJP and then as the general secretary of the state BJP women’s wing till 2008. She had served as a member of different committees of Parliament, such as committees for chemicals and fertilisers, estimates, empowerment of women, finance and business advisory.
Meenakshi Lekhi – MoS for External Affairs; Culture
Education: LLB
Experience: A second-term MP from the New Delhi constituency. She was appointed vice president of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha in 2010. She was later appointed as a national spokesperson of the party. She has also served on different parliamentary panels, including the Standing Committee on External Affairs, Committee of Privileges, and General Purposes Committee. She has served as chairperson of the Committee on Public Undertakings and the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019.
Annapurna Devi – MoS for Education
Experience: She is currently the national vice-president of BJP. SHe was earlier part of the RJD until the 2019 parliamentary elections. She was also state president of RJD in Jharkhand and was to contest from Koderma on a party ticket. However, she quit the RJD and joined the BJP before the elections.
A Narayanaswamy – MoS for Social Justice and Empowerment
Education: BA graduate from Government Arts College, Bengaluru.
Experience: A first-time MP who was denied entry into a village in his constituency nearly two years ago as he was a Dalit. A Lok Sabha member from Chitradurga (SC) constituency, he belongs to the Madiga sect of Dalit community, and has served as MLA from Anekal segment for four times- 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2008. He had also served as the Chief Whip of the BJP Legislative Party in the Karnataka assembly in 1998 -1999, and was minister in the BJP government from 2010 to 2013.
Kaushal Kishore – MoS for Housing and Urban Affairs
Experience: A two-time MP, Kishore (61) represents the Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh. He is the national president of the Parakh Mahasangh and is the state chief of the BJP’s SC wing. He began his political career as an MLA from Malihabad in 2002. In 2002-03, he also rose to be a minister of state in the SP government.
Ajay Bhatt – MoS for Defence and Tourism
Experience: He has served the BJP successfully in several key positions in Uttarakhand over the years. He became an MP for the first time in the 2019 General Election. He joined the ABVP as a student and has been in the active politics since 1980. He won from Ranikhet for the first time in undivided Uttar Pradesh in 1996. He also became a minister in the Interim government led by Nityanand Swamy in Uttarakhand when it was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000. He represented Ranikhet in the Uttarakhand Assembly for two terms from 2002-2007 and then again from 2012-2017.
BL Verma – MoS for Cooperation, and N-E Development
Experience: A member of the Rajya Sabha, Verma started off as an active party worker from Budaun in Uttar Pradesh. He became UP BJP vice-president in 2018 and as a member of the upper house of Parliament, he is in the Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). He was earlier president of the Braj region unit of the saffron party. He holds the post of chairman of UP State Construction and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, enjoying the rank and status of a minister of state.
Ajay Kumar – MoS for Home Affairs
Experience: A first-time BJP MP. He was elected as an MLA in 2012 from the Nighasan Assembly seat. Mishra started his political career as the BJP’s district general secretary and rose gradually to become a Member of Parliament. Right from his youth, he was associated with activities such as education of the children from weaker sections and help them get medical facilities and employment.
Devusinh Chauhan – MoS for Communication
Education: Diploma in Electrical Engineering
Experience: A two-time MP from Kheda in Gujarat, he has also served as an MLA in the Gujarat Assembly for two terms.
Bhagwanth Khuba – MoS for New and Renewable Energy; Chemicals
Education: BE (Mech.) from Sree Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumakuru
Experience: A two-time Lok Sabha member, He hails from the politically dominant Lingayat community. He had never fought an election before he entered the Lok Sabha in 2014, by defeating former Chief Minister late N Dharam Singh in Bidar segment. He again won the seat in 2019, by defeating another Congress heavyweight in the region Eshwar B Khandre.
Kapil Moreshwar Patil – MoS for Panchayati Raj
Education: BA from Mumbai University
Experience: He is serving his second term as the MP from Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. He has been the member of the standing committee on defence and committee on absence of members from the sittings of the House. He was the Sarpanch of Dive-Anjur gram panchayat from 1988 to 1992.
Pratima Bhowmik – MoS for Social Justice and Empowerment
Education: BSc from Tripura Women’s College
Experience: She is the only politician from Tripura to be sworn-in as a central minister. She is a first time MP, elected from West Tripura constituency in the last general elections. Prior to this, she was the general secretary of the Tripura unit of BJP, but relinquished the post after being elected as Member of Parliament and at present holds the post of vice-president of the state unit.
Subhas Sarkar – MoS for Education
Profession: Doctor
Experience: A seasoned warhorse of the BJP in West Bengal, Sarkar is an MP from Bankura. He was the vice-president of the BJP’s state unit in 2017. He is also a member of the Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare and the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad – MoS for Finance
Education: MS in General Surgery, an MCh in Paediatric Surgery and an FCPS in General Surgery from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University and Mumbai University
Experience: He is a first-time Member of Parliament (MP) from the Rajya Sabha. He had earlier served as Mayor of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation and Chairman of Marathwada Legal Development Corporation.
Rajkumar Ranjan Singh – MoS for External Affairs; Education
Education: PhD on “problems of land-use” in Manipur
Experience: He belongs to an erstwhile royal clan of Manipur. In 2013, he joined the BJP and contested the Lok Sabha elections in the very next year. However, his debut was unsuccessful. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he was elected as MP from the inner Manipur parliamentary constituency on the BJP ticket
Bharathi Pravin Pawar – MoS for Health and Family Welfare
Experience: She is a first-time Lok Sabha member for Dindori in Maharashtra. She served as a member of Nashik zila parishad and worked for eradicating malnutrition and providing clean drinking water to people. Before joining politics, she was a medical practitioner.
Bishweswar Tudu – MoS for Tribal Affairs; Jal Shakti
Education: A diploma holder in Electrical Engineering
Experience: He is a first-time Lok Sabha member, and Odisha’s tribal face in the Union cabinet. He joined BJP after quitting a state government job with the Balimela hydro-electricity generation project. He won the 2019 general elections from the reserved Mayurbhanj seat. His association with the RSS and its frontal organisations dates back to about two decades before he became an MP. He heads the Odisha State BJP’s ST Morcha and is a general secretary of the BJP at the national level.
Shantanu Thakur – MoS for Ports, Shipping and Waterways
Education: Graduate
Experience: Santanu Thakur, Lok Sabha member from Bongoan parliamentary seat, is one of the heir apparents of the influential Thakurbari a socio-religious sect formed by his ancestors Harichand-Guruchand Thakur- for the uplift of the Matuas, the second-largest scheduled caste community of the West Bengal. It was in February 2019, following a socio-religious meeting of the Matua community, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed, that Sanatanu decided to join active politics, and within a month, he was given nomination from the Bongaon Lok Sabha seat. He won the seat by defeating his aunt and became one of the key leaders of the BJP in the state. He had also accompanied Modi to Bangladesh during his last visit to Dhaka in the middle of the Bengal assembly polls, which also included a tour to Orakandi in Gopalgank district in Bangladesh where the founder of the Matua sect and social reformer Harichand Thakur was born.
Munjapara Mahendrabhai – MoS for WCD; Ayush
Profession: Cardiologist and professor of medicine in Gujarat
Experience: He is a first time Lok Sabha MP. A social worker at heart, 52-year-old Mahendrabhai offered medicines at Rs 2 and served about eight lakh patients through various medical camps.
John Barla – MoS for Minority Affairs
Experience: John Barla is the BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from West Bengal’s Alipurduar. He was one of the key persons responsible for the BJP making inroads in the North Bengal region. He began his political career as a tea garden worker in the Terai-Dooars region nearly two decades ago, has come a long way from being a tribal leader to the corridors of power in New Delhi.
L Murugan – MoS for Fisheries; Information and Broadcasting
Profession: Lawyer
Experience: He is the Tamil Nadu state BJP president. He will have to be elected to the Rajya Sabha within six months to remain in the Ministry.
Nisith Pramanik – MoS for Home; Youth Affair and Sports
Education: Bachelor of Computer Applications
Experience: BJP’s Coochbehar MP Nisith Pramanik has been one of the most vocal faces in the saffron brigade in its attacks on the ruling TMC. He was elected in 2019 to the Lok Sabha for the first time. He was also fielded in the assembly elections by the BJP from Dinhata within the Coochbehar Lok Sabha constituency. The MP managed a very narrow win by just 57 votes, but has since resigned his MLA-ship in order to continue as an MP. He is a member of the Standing Committee on Information Technology and a member of the consultative committee, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
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