Amit Shah, Jaishankar among first-timers in PM Modi’s council of ministers
Five of the first timers were named Cabinet ministers.
There are 19 first-time ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 58-member council of ministers. Six of the first timers including BJP president Amit Shah, former foreign secretary S Jaishankar and former Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank made it to the cabinet.
Jaishankar, a surprise pick in Narendra Modi’s council of ministers, is one of India’s leading strategic analysts, He was a key member of the Indian team which negotiated the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal. A seasoned diplomat, Jaishankar was the Indian government’s pointsman for China and the US.
Former Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had won the Haridwar LoK sabha seat. His appointment as a Cabinet minister marks the end of an eight-year political wilderness.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda, a second-time Lok Sabha MP from Khunti in Jharkhand, also took oath as a Union minister for the first time.
Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena who beat Congress’s Mumbai chief Milind Deora also got his first ministerial berth in the Cabinet.
Two four-time MPs from Karnataka - Suresh Angadi from Belgaum and Pralhad Joshi from Dharwad also made it to the council of ministers.
Angadi is a four-time MP and has wide range of interests in the sugar and education. In 2017, he had criticised the lack of a Lingayat in the Union cabinet after a reshuffle in which the lone Lingayat representative, GM Siddeshwar, was shunted out.
Prahalad Joshi who also made it to the Cabinet, was overlooked in the previous cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government in favour of two other Brahmin leaders from Karnataka. With Ananth Kumar and Anantkumar Hegde making the cut, Joshi appeared to be low down the pecking order.
BJP MP, Rattan Lal Kataria who won the Ambala Lok Sabha seat defeating Kumari Selja of the Congress was also sworn in as a minister.
G Kishan Reddy BJP MP from Secunderabad in Telangana is also a first time minister.
Rameshwar Teli who was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Assam’s Dibrugarh constituency also took oath as a central minister for the first time.
Kailash Chowdhary a farmer leader who defeated influential Congress leader Manvendra Singh in Rajasthan’s Barmer and Pratap Chandra Sarangi, BJP MP from Balasore in Odisha were also sworn in as ministers.
Deboshree Chaudhary who won from Raiganj Bengal in the BJP’s stunning show in the state was also sworn in as a minister.
Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre BJP MP from Akola in Maharashtra was also sworn in as a minister for the first time.
Anurag Thakur, BJP MP from Hamirpur and son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal also made the cut for a ministerial berth for the first time.
Nityanand Rai, BJP’s Bihar chief is also a first time minister and so is Ratanlal Kataria, BJP leader from Haryana
Renuka Singh Saruta, BJP MP from Sarguja in Chhattisgarh is also a newcomer into the council of ministers.
Som Parkash, former IAS officer and BJP’s who was elected from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, is one of the new faces chosen for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government.
BJP’s Kerala unit chief V Muraleedharan also joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new ministry for his first assignment as a central minister.