Krishan Pal, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in 2019: Former Haryana BJP president retains his portfolio

Krishan Pal Gurjar, the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment in the first Narendra Modi government, has retained his portfolio in the new cabinet which was sworn in on 30 May. Gurjar was re-elected from the Faridabad constituency in Haryana in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with 69 percent of the votes. A former Haryana BJP president, he had also served as Minister for Transport from 1996 to 1999 in the Government of Haryana led by Bansi Lal. The BJP leader became a state minister after winning the corporation councillor elections in 1994. He was also an MLA from the Mewla Maharajpur Assembly constituency in Haryana in 1996. Gurjar is another BJP leader who is a lawyer by profession. He completed his graduation in Bachelor of Arts from Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru Government College, Faridabad in 1978 and got his law degree from Meerut University. Before making it to parliament, he was the member of the Haryana Assembly for three terms (1996-2005, 2009-2014). He was transport minister for the Haryana government between 1996 and 1999. And in May 2014, he was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha. In the first term of the Modi government, he was made Union Minister of State, Ministries of Road Transport and Highways; and Shipping in May 2014. In November, he was transferred to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. In the 2019 general elections, Krishan Pal Gurjar registered a massive victory over Congress’ Avtar Singh Bhadana by a margin of over 6 lakh votes. Gurjar is another MP from Haryana who crossed his own victory vote margin in defeating his immediate opponent: from about 41 percent in 2014 to about 48 percent in 2019. He beat former three-term MP Avtar Singh Bhadana of Congress from Faridabad by over 4.66 lakh votes in 2014 and by over 6.44 lakh votes in 2019. Gurjar was elected as a councillor on a BJP ticket in 1994 and became the party’s state minister. He became the MLA from Mewla Maharajpur constituency of Haryana in 1996. He has also served as the BJP state president for Haryana.