Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, MoS Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries, was an accused in Muzaffarnagar riots

Sanjeev Kumar Balyan has been given the responsibility of the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries as a junior minister (MoS). Balyan won the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Muzaffarnagar seat with a slim margin of 6,500 votes against Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh. [caption id=“attachment_6428611” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sanjeev Balyan. ANI[/caption] In 2014, Balyan had defeated Bahujan Samaj Party’s Kadir Rana by a huge margin of over four lakh votes from the same seat. After the 2014 polls, he was appointed the minister of state for agriculture and food processing in the NDA government. While in the 2009 general election, Kadir Rana of BSP won Muzaffarnagar seat when he defeated RLD’s, Anuradha Chaudhary. Balyan was also one of the BJP leaders accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. In June 2018, a court in Muzaffarnagar had issued non-bailable warrants against several politicians, one of whom was Balyan. In 2014, Balyan was appointed as minister of state for Agriculture and food processing in the NDA government under Narendra Modi. Later in July 2016, he was moved to be the Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, under Minister Uma Bharti.