Kiren Rijiju to hold independent charge of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Ministry of Minority Affairs

Kiren Rijiju was the union minister of state for Home Affairs in the previous cabinet.

One of the most prominent faces of Narendra Modi’s first cabinet, Kiren Rijiju was selected as a minister of state with independent charge in the new Lok Sabha sworn in on Thursday.

Kiren Rijiju was selected as a minister of state with independent charge in the new Lok Sabha sworn in on Thursday.(Sonu Mehta/HT File photo)

The 47-year-old parliamentarian from Arunachal West was the union minister of state for Home Affairs in the previous cabinet.

Rijiju defeated former chief minister and Congress veteran Nabam Tuki by a margin of 174,000 votes.

An alumnus of Hansraj College, Delhi and Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, Delhi University, Rijiju was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009.

He has had his own share of controversies. In 2016, Satish Verma, the then chief vigilance officer of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation gave report alleging corruption in the 600 MW Kameng Hydro Electric Project, a big-ticket project in Rijiju’s constituency. Rijiju was accused of helping his cousin Goboi Rijiju, one of the sub-contractors in the project. The minister had rejected the allegations.

He served as a member of Khadi and Village Industries Commission from 2000 to 2005 when he was only 29.