Cabinet reshuffle: All you need to know about Modi's newly-appointed ministers

Twenty-one new faces were inducted in the Narendra Modi government’s first cabinet expansion Sunday. Four new cabinet ministers and 17 ministers of state, three with independent charge, took oath at the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday afternoon in New Delhi. Those who were sworn-in as cabinet ministers were former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, Shiv Sena’s Suresh Prabhu, senior BJP leader Jagat Prakash Nadda and former Congressman Birender Singh. BJP MPs Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mahesh Sharma and Bandaru Dattatreya would be ministers of state with independent charge. Here’s all you need to know about the Cabinet Expansion: Meet the four new cabinet ministers 1. Manohar Parrikar, 58: Two years ago he accused the army of hogging land in Goa’s state capital. Former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar was on Sunday sworn-in as union cabinet minister and he is widely tipped to hold the defence portfolio.The three-time chief minister has conveyed an image of being a humble, soft-spoken, unassuming qualified metallurgist with unkempt salt and pepper hair, who wears crumpled bush-shirts and scuffed sandals to work.While Parrikar has single-handedly driven the BJP in Goa to unprecedented heights with his carefully cultivated charisma, planning, and doggedness, once he landed in the seat of power, his inadequacies appeared to take over. 2. Suresh Pradbhu (57):A chemical and fertilizer and then environment minister in the first National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, Prabhu quickly made a mark in the cabinet. Prabhu also served as chairman of task force for the inter-linking of rivers project, which was close to Vajpayee’s heart, and which could resolve the twin problems of droughts and floods that perpetually plague India. Considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was recently head of a high-level Advisory Group for Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy for reforms in the power sector, and is working on or is a member of over a dozen major international organisations and panels. Prabhu also pursued two doctorates simultaneously, one on Public Finance from Mumbai University and the other from Berlin University on Climate Change. 3. Jagat Prakash Nadda (54): With roots in the RSS and its affiliates, Nadda was on Sunday inducted into the union cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Former environment, health and law minister from Himachal Pradesh, which has just four of the Lok Sabha’s 543 elected seats, Nadda has tried to carve his own space in national politics with his low profile and astute organisational skills. He has been active on the national political scene since 2010 when he was picked by then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Nitin Gadkari to join his new team. He was made the party’s national general secretary.Nadda, as a forest minister, was the brain behind opening forest police stations to check forest crimes, launching community-driven plantation, setting up forest ponds and the massive plantation of deodars to boost the depleting green cover of the ‘Queen of Hills, as Shimla was fondly called by the British. A close confidant of Modi, Nadda was among those who were mentioned as likely to be the BJP chief after Rajnath Singh was inducted into the central government as the home minister. 4.Birendra Singh, 68: Birender Singh switched to the BJP ahead of the Haryana assembly election after spending four decades in the Congress. Jat community leader Birender Singh, had all the credentials - political standing, mass base, political lineage and experience, as per his own claim, to be chief minister of Haryana. When he failed to get his due in the Congress party, with whom he remained associated for over four decades, he switched loyalties to the BJP just before the Haryana assembly elections. He quit the Congress and his Rajya Sabha seat recently. Grandson of well-known farmers’ rights leader, Sir Chhotu Ram, Birender Singh is a towering Jat leader in Haryana. Though related to former chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Singh remained a bitter critic of Hooda in the last few years. Meet the Ministers of State (independent charge) Rajiv Pratap Rudy, 52: Senior BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy used to fly for a commercial airline. He is tech-savvy and is active on Twitter. He is also known for his love for a good life.Rudy, who was hired as a co-pilot with private airline IndiGo Airlines on an honorary basis, is a well known face in media circles.He is one of the few English speaking BJP leaders from the Hindi heartland, a qualified lawyer and a lecturer in the Magadh University in Bihar. Rudy was first time elected to the state assembly from Taraiya on the Janata Dal ticket in 1990. He joined the BJP after the mid-90s. He served as commerce and industry minister from September 2001 to May 2003 and as civil aviation minister from May 24, 2003, to May 21, 2004. Rudy belongs to the upper caste Rajput community from Amnaur in Saran district of Bihar. Bandaru Dattatreya, 67:A four-time MP, Dattatreya comes from a modest background and with his sheer simplicity, soft-spoken and down-to-earth nature came up in his political career.He’s from Hyderabad, belongs to the backward class, and has already served as the union minister of state twice in the past. He will be the only representative from Telangana in the union cabinet. Born June 12, 1947, Dattatreya is a science graduate. He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1965. He worked as RSS parcharak from 1968 to 1989. He was state joint secretary of Loka Sangarsha Samiti (Jayaprakash Narayana movement). He was jailed during the Emergency. He joined the BJP in 1980 and held various positions before becoming president of the Andhra Pradesh unit of the party in 1997. The big moment in his political career came when he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Secunderabad in 1991. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 and served as union minister of state for urban development in the Vajpayee government. He is serving as national vice-president of the party since 2010. **Dr Mahesh Sharma:**A physician by profession, Mahesh Sharma is credited with working relentlessly in bringing the medical fraternity close to the BJP in recent years. Sharma, initially known for his proximity to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, now is in the “good books” of party president Amit Shah as well, party insiders say. He owns a multi-speciality hospital chain in Noida, now also his parliamentary constituency and has been working for the BJP for the past few years. Suave and hard working, he is also known for his networking skills and the financial muscle. He successfully broke the caste matrix in Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) and won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. His links with the RSS, with which he was connected very early in life and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), is also said to be an added asset. Ministers of State Mukhtar Abbas Naqv: The best known Muslim face of BJP, Naqvi has been the saffron camp’s poster boy for Uttar Pradesh.The 57-year-old post-graduate in mass communications has been known for his media one-liners and punch lines against his political adversaries, especially in his one-time political bastion of Rampur. He often peppers his statements and bytes to television channels with couplets and has penned two books – Syah and Danga. After a series of failures when he unsuccessfully tried his luck in the assembly elections, he won the Rampur parliamentary seat against the might of the erstwhile Rampur royal family and dislodged the Congress in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. He is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh. His USP, insiders say, is both his being a Muslim and also his unwavering loyalty to the party. Ram Kripal Yadav: BJP MP from Patliputra constituency in Bihar, Ram Kripal Yadav, known as the disciple of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, got a berth in Modi’s council of ministers. People across the state describe him as the down to earth leader, who is ready to help them in crisis. It was Lalu’s love for his daughter, which forced his loyalist and dedicated leader Ram Kripal to join the BJP. He was shocked when Lalu Prasad named Misa Bharti as the party candidate from Patliputra. Ram Kripal wanted to contest from the seat. After nearly three decades of association with Lalu Prasad, Ram Kripal joined the BJP in March 2014 and endorsed Narendra Modi as “the man India is looking up to”. It was Ram Kripal who offered his Lok Sabha seat to Lalu Prasad to contest the polls in 2009. But Lalu Prasad was defeated by JD-U leader Ranjan Prasad Yadav. Lalu Prasad later sent Ram Kripal to the Rajya Sabha in 2010. Sanwar Lal Jat: Sanwar is a former commerce professor and a favourite of locals. Born in 1955, he is a senior BJP member from Rajasthan. He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from Ajmer constituency after defeating Sachin Pilot of the Congress. He is member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources from Sep 1, 2014. Till recently, Sanwar Lal was a cabinet minister in the Vasundhara Raje government holding portfolios of irrigation, Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana, PHED, CAD, ground water development. An agriculturist by profession, Sanwar Lal did M.Com. and Ph.D. before joining politics. He was a commerce professor in the University of Rajasthan. [caption id=“attachment_1794657” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PIB[/caption] **Giriraj Singh:**MP from Nawada constituency in Bihar, once said that those opposing Narendra Modi have no place in India. Singh belongs to the upper caste Bhumihar caste that has a strong presence in state politics. A member of the RSS, Singh has often spoken openly of his support and admiration for Modi. During the Lok Sabha election campaign, he was in news for his remark against the critics of then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. In 2010, when Nitish Kumar and JD-U president Sharad Yadav refused to hold Modi campaign in the state for polls, Singh announced he would invite Modi to campaign in his constituency. Later on, he openly questioned former chief minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to return the aid given by then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in 2008 for flood relief. In July this year, two months after he won the Lok Sabha polls, over Rs.1.14 crore and $600 in cash and jewellery stolen from Giriraj Singh’s house was recovered. He later said the items recovered belonged to his cousin. The case is still being probed. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore: He was the shooting star who won a silver medal for India at the 2004 Athens Olympics in double trap event. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore later took retirement from the army and joined politics. Rathore entered the 16th Lok Sabha by defeating senior Congress leader CP Joshi from Jaipur Rural constituency. This was the first time he contested an election. Born Jan 29, 1970, Rathore took voluntary retirement from the army in 2013 and became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has been a member of the standing committee on defence since Sep 1. Rathore comes from a family of armymen as his father was also in the army. The shooting champion has also won medals in the Commonwealth Games and the World Shooting Championships. He was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour in India, for the year 2004. He was also was rewarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), a gallantry award for services he had provided. Babul Supriyo:  Bollywood’s singer Babul Supriyo, who hails from West Bengal,quit a lucrative job at a multinational bank to pursue his first love - singing and has now made it big in another new field - politics.From being nominated for the tough Asansol cosntituency in West Bengal, where the BJP has been traditionally weak, to pulling off a surprise win, and now getting a berth in the Narendra Modi ministry - it has been a meteoric rise for Supriyo, who turns 44 next month. Hansraj AhirHe is both feared and revered - Hansraj G. Ahir, the soft-spoken Lok Sabha member from Chandrapur in Vidarbha, can be persistent when it comes to exposing scams. He blew the whistle on the coal mining scam and sought details on the various dark deals on it, but was stone-walled at various levels, including the then Prime Minister’s Office. But Ahir did not lose heart. Currently in his fourth-term as Lok Sabha member, Ahir took help of Prakash Javadekar, another Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, and moved the Central Vigilance Commission to inquire into the incident in early 2012. As in exposing scams, Ahir is equally meticulous and systematic in his parliamentary duties, bagging the Sansad Ratna Award for the Best Parliamentarian in the 15th Lok Sabha. Sujana Chowdary He is an industrialist and one of the richest MPs with assets of about Rs 190 crore. Founder and chairman of Sujana Group of Companies, Chowdary hails from Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh and belongs to the powerful Kamma community like his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. Born in 1961 in a well-educated family of government officers, Chowdary did his Master’s in engineering. He set up Sujana Group of Companies in 1986. He came closer to Naidu when the latter was the chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh between 1995 and 2004 and was considered as one of the main fund-raisers for the party. Naidu rewarded him with a Rajya Sabha ticket in 2010. Chowdary was one of the strong TDP voices against division of Andhra Pradesh and he drew the attention with his protest in Rajya Sabha during the debate on the state reorganisation bill. He grew stronger in the party and was made leader of TDP parliamentary wing. Niranjan Jyoti The BJP MP from Fatehpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti may not be a modern woman but being a sadhvi and hailing from a backward caste Sunday earned her a berth in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi cabinet. A ’nishad’ by birth, she was elected as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Hamirpur constituency in 2012. Known to be a fighter, she wears saffron robes, sports a big tilak on her forehead and is known for her speeches laced with Hindu scriptures and hymns. The 47-year-old won from the Fatehpur constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. She can work among the backward class in the run up for the Uttar Pradesh assembly election in 2017, party leaders feel. Vijay Sampla, He is a first-time BJP MP from the Hoshiarpur (reserved) seat. Sampla is not a majo name in Punjab’s politics. But Sampla, 53, who comes from the Ravidassia Dalit community, has been chosen because the BJP is looking at its own prospects for the 2017 assembly polls in Punjab. Punjab has the highest percentage (over 29 percent) of the Dalit community among all states. Sampla, a businessman, was picked up by the BJP for the Hoshiarpur seat in the recent Lok Sabha polls though he had not contested any election earlier. IANS