Reddy, Rijiju, Mandaviya among seven ministers elevated to cabinet rank

Seven Ministers of State (MoS) were on Wednesday elevated as cabinet ministers in the expansion of the union council of ministers carried out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

G Kishan Reddy, Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Singh Puri, Raj Kumar Singh, Parshottam Rupala, Mansukh Mandaviya and Anurag Singh Thakur took oath as cabinet ministers on Wednesday at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.

It was the first expansion and reshuffle of ministry carried out by Prime Minister in his second term.

G Kishan Reddy, BJP MP from Secunderabad in Telanagana, was inducted as Minister of State for Home Affairs in 2019 in the second term of NDA government led by PM Modi. Starting as a youth worker, Reddy rose through the ranks and became the chief of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha from 2002 to 2005.

He was elected as an MLA from Himayatnagar constituency in 2004 and continued to represent the seat till 2014. Later he was elected as an MLA from Amberpet assembly constituency.

Kiren Rijiju, BJP MP from Arunachal West, is Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Minister of State for Minority Affairs in the Narendra Modi government. He was Union Minister of State for Home Affairs in the first term of the BJP-led government.

Rijiju became the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports after the BJP-led government returned to office in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Over the past two years, he has been associated with several initiatives in the sports ministry including the Fit India movement. Rijiju has articulated and worked for the goal that India wins medals at the Olympics in double digits.

Anurag Singh Thakur, BJP MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, became Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs in 2019, when the BJP led by PM Modi was elected for a second term in office.

He was first elected to Lok Sabha in May 2008 in a by-poll as a candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Thakur was also elected to 14th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabha.

Thakur was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from May 2016 to February 2017. In 2016, he became the first serving BJP Member of Parliament to become a regular commissioned officer in the Territorial Army. He was the youngest president of the Himachal Pradesh State Cricket Association at the age of 25.

Hardeep Singh Puri, a former envoy who was also Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, is Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He is BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh.

Raj Kumar Singh, a former civil servant, was in May 2019 appointed Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; and Minister of State, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He has served as Union Home Secretary. He is into his second term as MP from Arrah Lok Sabha seat.

Mansukh Mandaviya, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, was appointed Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in May 2019. He is a former MLA.

Parshottam Rupala is into his third term as Rajya Sabha MP and was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in May 2019 after the Modi government won the second term in office.

( With inputs from ANI )

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