New Delhi: To live up to the inclusive pitch delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his victory speech, the new NDA government has roped in many fresh faces from across the states.
Although portfolios have not been declared till the publication of this report, Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have picked from a wide array of faces — from states where the party has recently made a mark, as well as those it has swept.
Of the new faces, Ramesh Pokhriyal, the MP for Haridwar, Uttarakhand, and Pralhad Joshi, the MP for Dharwad, Karnataka, are the only ones to secure cabinet berths. The rest, including Anurag Thakur, the MP for Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh and former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, have been made ministers of state.
The cabinet ministers
Pokhriyal served as the chief minister of Uttarakhand from 2009 to 2011, and gained attention for working towards cleaning the Ganga.
Joshi, meanwhile, joins senior leader Sadananda Gowda and new minister of state Suresh Angadi as the representatives of Karnataka in the new council of ministers.
“Joshi comes from an activist background,” BJP Karnataka spokesperson Malavika Avinash said. “He was Ananth Kumar’s protege. He comes from a humble background, not a city, and is firm but unassuming.”
Ministers of state
State leaders sworn-in as MoS include Debasree Chaudhuri from West Bengal and Rattan Lal Kataria from Haryana.
“Rattan Lal Kataria comes from a backward family, he’s a Dalit. His father is still a mochi (a cobbler),” BJP’s Gian Chand Gupta said. “He is a staunch RSS worker — he has been with the organisation for the last 40 years.”
Som Parkash, a former IAS officer from Punjab, has also been sworn-in. Parkash had been given a ticket instead of senior leader and former minister Vijay Sampla from Hoshiarpur, and defeated Congress’ Raj Kumar Chabbewal.
Kailash Choudhary, a leader from Rajasthan who won one of the toughest battles in the state to defeat former union minister Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra Singh in Barmer, has also been rewarded with an MoS berth.
Rameswar Teli, the lone MP from Assam to be re-nominated by the BJP, has also been rewarded by PM Modi. Teli, a member of the tea-tribe community, defeated five-time Congress MP Paban Singh Ghatowar by a record margin for the second time running.
Pratap Sarangi, who defeated the Biju Janata Dal’s R.K. Jena from Balasore in Odisha, has also been made an MoS. Sarangi is an old RSS hand and one of the founding members of the BJP in his state. He is famous for leading a simple life under a thatched roof in Balasore, and was known as “Odisha’s Modi”.
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