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Former CMs among new faces who got plum posts
Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is making his debut as Union minister, has been allotted key ministries of agriculture and farmers welfare
New Delhi: Several new faces inducted in the Union council of ministers of the NDA 3.0 led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who either joined the Central Cabinet for the first time or were not part of the previous government since 2019, were allocated key portfolios on Monday.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is making his debut as Union minister, has been allotted key ministries of agriculture and farmers welfare, as well as rural development. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, who is also the longest serving chief minister of the Hindi heartland state, won the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha by a huge margin.
Manohar Lal Khattar, former Haryana CM who like Chouhan had not been part of the Union Cabinet earlier, has been made the minister of housing and urban affairs, as well as minister of power. Khattar won the Karnal parliamentary constituency in the general elections.
BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda, who had served as the minister of health and family welfare in the first Modi government from 2014 to 2019, will again helm his former ministry as well as ministry of chemicals and fertilizers.
Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular), an ally in the NDA, has been allotted the heavy industries and steel ministries. The JD(S) leader, who won the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, is also making his debut as Union minister.
Former Bihar CM and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi has been given the portfolio of minister of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME).
Senior Janata Dal (United) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh was on Monday appointed as the minister of panchayati raj, as well as minister of fisheries, animal husbandry, and dairying.
Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), another BJP ally, is the new minister of civil aviation.Another ally and Lok Janshakti Party LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan has been handed the ministry of food processing industries.
BJP leader Jual Oram, who had served as the tribal affairs minister from 2014-2019, has been allotted the same portfolio once more. BJP’s Gujarat unit chief CR Patil has been allotted the ministry of Jal Shakti, which was previously helmed by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is now shifted to the ministry of culture and tourism.
Annpurna Devi, who served as a junior minister of education in the previous Modi government, has been appointed as the Union minister of women and child development.
