Modi team: The new Union Cabinet

The following is the list of council of ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet

Cabinet Ministers

Rajnath Singh: Home Minster

He served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and became the Minister of Agriculture in the NDA government in May 2003. After BJP lost the 2004 general elections, he was appointed as the party president and was again elected for the post in January 2013. Despite opposition, he had stood by Narendra Modi to anoint him as the party's prime ministerial candidate.

Sushma Swaraj: External Affairs & Overseas Indian Affairs

She was the Leader of Opposition in the15th Lok Sabha. One of the best orators, Ms. Swaraj has been elected seven times as a Member of Parliament and three times as a Member of the Legislative Assembly. At the age of 25, she became Haryana's youngest Cabinet Minister and has also served as the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi.

Arun Jaitley: Finance Corporate Affairs & Defence

He is an eminent lawyer who was Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Law and Justice in the NDA government (1998-2004). He was the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha (2009-2014). He started his political career as a student union leader. During the movement against the Emergency, he remained under preventive detention for 19 months.

M. Venkaiah Naidu: Urban Development Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation & Parliamentary Affairs

He has served as the BJP president from 2002 to 2004. He was earlier the Union Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He was elected twice as an MLA in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He was a three-time Rajya Sabha Member from Karnataka since 1998.

Nitin Jairam Gadkari: Road Transport and Highways Shipping

He was appointed as BJP president in December 2009 shortly after the party lost the Lok Sabha elections. However, he had to make way for Rajnath Singh following a controversy over suspected financial dealings of a business group said to be associated with him. Previously a Public Works Department Minister in the Maharashtra government (1995-99), he has also served as the president of the Maharashtra BJP.

D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Railways

He was sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister of Karnataka in August 2011 after the resignation of B. S. Yeddyurappa. He was also president of the Karnataka BJP. He resigned as Chief Minister in July 2012 and was later the Leader of Opposition of the Karnataka Legislative Council.

Uma Bharati: Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

She won elections from the Khajuraho seat in 1989 and retained the seat in 1991, 1996 and 1998. She won the Bhopal seat in 1999 and became the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in 2003. In the Vajpayee government, she held various portfolios. She emerged as a prominent leader during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement

Dr. Najma A. Heptulla: Minority Affairs

Grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Dr. Heptullah was vice-president of the BJP. She was a Rajya Sabha Member from July 2004 to July 2010. She was again nominated by the BJP for Rajya Sabha in 2012. She contested the 13th vice-presidential elections in August 2007, but lost to Hamid Ansari.

Gopinathrao Munde: Rural Development, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water and Sanitation

He was Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for five terms and was the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly during 1992-1995. He also served as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra in 1995-1999. He was elected to 15th Lok Sabha in 2009 and served as Deputy Leader of the BJP.

Ramvilas Paswan: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Ram Vilas Paswan, president of the Lok Janshakti Party, is the eight-time Lok Sabha Member and also a former Rajya Sabha MP. He was first elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969 and to the Lok Sabha in 1977. He formed the LJP in 2000 and joined the UPA government in which he held the portfolios of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Steel. He had lost the 2009 general elections.

Kalraj Mishra: Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Kalraj Mishra was president of the Uttar Pradesh BJP. He was a Cabinet Minister in Uttar Pradesh government in the Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh governments. Also a former Rajya Sabha member, he won the 16th general elections from Deoria parliamentary constituency.

Maneka Gandhi: Women and Child Development

A seven-time Lok Sabha Member, Ms. Gandhi is animal rights activist and an environmentalist, who remained a minister in four governments. She was first elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 from Pilibhit parliamentary constituency, served as Union Minister of State, Environment and Forests, and Union Minister of State, Programme Implementation.

Ananthkumar: Chemicals and Fertilizers

A six-time parliamentarian, he was first elected from Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996. He was a Minister in the Vajpayee government and held various portfolios, including tourism, sports & youth affairs, culture, urban development and poverty alleviation. He became the BJP Karnataka president in 2003 and in 2004, was appointed as the party’s national general secretary.

Ravi Shankar Prasad: Communications and Information Technology & Law and Justice

He was the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. A senior Supreme Court advocate, Mr. Prasad held the portfolios of Minister of State in the Ministry of Coal and Mines, Ministry of Law and Justice, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He was thrice elected to the Upper House.

Ashok Gajapathi Raju: Civil Aviation

During his political career spanning about 36 years, he was elected as an MLA seven times, first as Janata Party candidate in 1978 and then as a TDP candidate. He held various ministries in the Andhra Pradesh government. Mr. Raju won the 16th Lok Sabha elections from Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh.

Anant Geete: Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

A Shiv Sena leader, he has been elected six times to the Parliament. He served as Union Minister of State, Ministry of Finance, Banking and Expenditure (Jul 2002 - Aug 2002) and Union Cabinet Minister, Power, (Aug 2002 - May 2004) in the Vajpayee government.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Food Processing Industries

A member of parliament for Bathinda representing Shiromani Akali Dal, Ms. Kaur is the wife of Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal. She started her political career in 2009 when she was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha.

Narendra Singh Tomar: Mines & Steel Labour and Employment

A BJP leader who began his political career as a member of the party’s youth forum in Madhya Pradesh and remained a member of State Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2008. He served as a Minister in the State government and was elected the BJP State unit president in 2006. He became a Rajya Sabha Member in 2009 and was subsequently elected to the 15th Lok Sabha.

Jual Oram: Tribal Affairs

He represents the Sundargarh constituency of Odisha and was also a member of the 12th, 13th and 14th Lok Sabha. He has served as a Cabinet Minister in the Vajpayee government. He is the BJP vice-president and has earlier served the party as its Odisha unit president.

Radha Mohan Singh: Agriculture

A four-time Lok Sabha member, he was president of BJP’s State unit from 2006 to 2009. He represents Purvi Champaran parliamentary constituency in Bihar. He started his political career as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 1967 and rose up to become the BJP’s Bihar unit president in 2006.

Thaawar Chand Gehlot: Social Justice and Empowerment

Presently the BJP national general secretary, he is a Dalit community leader who was earlier a Lok Sabha Member from Dewas parliamentary constituency between 1996 and 2009. He lost the 2009 general elections and became a Rajya Sabha member in 2013.

Smriti Zubin Irani: Human Resource Development

A finalist in the Femina Miss India beauty pageant in 1998, she became popular as TV serial actor. Ms. Irani joined the BJP in 2003 and contested the 14th Lok Sabha elections from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi, but lost to Congress candidate Kapil Sibal in 2004. She was elected as a Rajya Sabha Member in August 2011 and unsuccessfully contested the 2014 elections against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan: Health and Family Welfare

A BJP leader, Dr. Vardhan never lost any Delhi Assembly elections since 1993. He has served in various capacities as Health Minister, Law Minister and Education Minister in the Delhi cabinet during 1993–98. He was the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the 2013 State Assembly elections. In the 2014 general elections, he won from the Chandni Chowk constituency against Congress candidate Kapil Sibal.

Ministers of State

General V.K. Singh: Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge) & External Affairs Overseas Indian Affairs

He is a former Chief of Army Staff who took the Central Government to court on the issue of his age. He won the 16th Lok Sabha elections from Ghaziabad constituency with the second highest margin of 5.67 lakh votes. Following retirement, he had joined hands with Anna Hazare, who spearheaded anti-corruption movement.

Inderjit Singh Rao: Planning (Independent Charge), Statistics and Programme Implementation (Independent Charge) & Defence

A four-time MP, Mr. Singh quit the Congress party in February to join the BJP. He has been a four-time MLA in the Haryana State Assembly. Son of former Union Minister Rao Birender Singh, the BJP MP was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 on a Congress ticket and was posted as Union Minister of State of External Affairs and Defence Production in 2004-09.

Santosh Kumar Gangwar: Textiles (Independent Charge), Parliamentary Affairs Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

A Member of the 16th Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket, he previously served as a former Union Minister of State. He was a Member of Parliament from Bareilly since 1989, but lost the elections in 2009. He was also the chief whip of the BJP in 14th Lok Sabha.

Shripad Yesso Naik: Culture (Independent Charge) & Tourism (Independent Charge)

A fourth-term MP from Panaji constituency in Goa, Mr. Naik was also a Minister

of State in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government in 2000-2004. He held the seat in 2004, 2009 and 2014 general elections. Considered a competitor to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in Goa BJP, Naik belongs to influential Bhandari community which constitutes 27 per cent of Goa's population.

Dharmendra Pradhan: Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge)

Son of former BJP MP Dr. Debendra Pradhan, he was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2012 from Bihar and became a member of the 14th Lok Sabha from the Deogarh constituency in Odisha. He was the party’s general secretary and was also given the responsibility to supervise party activities in Jharkhand in 2011.

Sarbananda Sonowal: Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge)

He is the Assam unit president and also a national executive member of the BJP, credited with leading the BJP to a victory on seven of the 14 seats in the State in the 16th Lok Sabha elections. He represents the Lakhimpur constituency. Mr. Sonowal was earlier the president of the All Assam Students Union between 1992 and 1999. He was a member of the Asom Gana Parishad till 2011, after which he joined the BJP.

Prakash Javadekar: Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge) & Parliamentary Affairs

BJP’s official spokesperson, Mr. Javdekar was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2008. He was instrumental in lodging complaint against alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks during the UPA regime. A former banker, Mr. Javdekar is also in-charge of the BJP Economic Forum and cells related to economy. He was previously a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council for two terms.

Piyush Goyal: Power (Independent Charge), Coal (Independent Charge) & New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge)

He is BJP’s national treasurer. He heads the party’s information communication campaign committee. Son of senior BJP leader Vedprakash Goyal, the BJP leader has been on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence as a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra. An all-India second rank holder chartered accountant, he is also a prominent investment banker with top corporate entities.

Dr. Jitendra Singh: Science and Technology (Independent Charge), Earth Sciences (Independent Charge), Prime Minister Office Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space

He is professor of Diabetes & Endocrinology and a medial practitioner. He is a member of the BJP national executive and also the chief party spokesperson in Jammu and Kashmir. He has been elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from the Udhampur parliamentary constituency in Jammu.

Nirmala Sitharaman: Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), Finance Corporate Affairs

An articulate national spokesperson for the BJP, Ms. Sitharaman did her post-graduation from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. She earlier worked with the BBC and also with the PricewaterhouseCoopers as a researcher. On her return from London, she was nominated to the National Commission for Women and then joined the party.

G.M. Siddeshwara: Civil Aviation

He has been elected from the Davangere constituency of Karnataka on a BJP ticket for the third term since 2004. His father late G. Mallikarjunappa, who was earlier associated with the RSS, was also an M.P. for two terms. Mr. Siddeswara has served as the BJP Karnataka vice-president of the Karnataka BJP (2009-2010) and the BJP National Parliamentary Party Treasurer from 2004-2014

Manoj Sinha: Railways

Manoj Sinha, an M.Tech in civil engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, represents the Ghazipur constituency of Bihar. He remained a member of the party’s national council from 1989 to 1996. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 and then in 1999. Mr. Sinha has also elected as the president of the Banaras Hindu University in 1983.

Upendra Kushwaha: Rural Development, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water and Sanitation

An MP from Karakat constituency of Bihar, Mr. Kushwaha was earlier a member of the Rajya Sabha. He founded the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party in 2013 and entered into a pre-poll alliance with the BJP in February to contest election against the Congress, the RJD and the Janata Dal (United). His party candidates won all the seats -- Sitamarhi, Karakat and Jahanabad – on which it contested Lok Sabha elections.

Radhakrishnan P: Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

He has earlier served as the Minister of State for Youth affairs and also for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in the Vajpayee government. Mr. Radhakrishnan, who was this time elected to the Lok Sabha from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, is the president of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit. He had lost the 2009 Lok Sabha and the 2011 State Assembly elections.

Kiren Rijiju: Home Affairs

A BJP leader from Arunachal Pradesh, who dethroned sitting Congress MP Takam Sanjoy by a margin of 47,424. He was earlier a member of the 14th Lok Sabha from the same constituency. Mr. Rijiju is also the BJP national secretary.

Krishan Pal: Road Transport and Highways Shipping

He started his political career as a student union leader. He entered electoral politics in 1994 when he was elected as a Corporation councillor. Mr. Gurjar contested Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections in 1996 and won from the Melva Maharajpur constituency. The same year he was appointed as Transport Minister in the State government. A three-time MLA, he was also the party’s State unit president.

Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan: Agriculture & Food Processing Industries

He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from Muzaffarnagar constituency of Uttar Pradesh. A PhD in Veterinary Anatomy from the Haryana Agricultural University at Hissar, he was also an Assistant Professor in the same institution before he joined the Haryana Government as a veterinary surgeon. Mr. Baliyan resigned about two years ago to join a real estate firm as business partner.

Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava: Tribal Affairs

He was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in a 1998 bye-election from Broach constituency in Gujarat. He was re-elected to the lower house in 1999, 2004 and 2009 from the same constituency, which was renamed as Bharuch in 2008.

Raosaheb Dadarao Danve: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

A Lok Sabha representative from Jalna constituency of Maharashtra, he also is a BJP member. He was earlier a member to the 13th, 14th and 15th Lok Sabha from the same constituency. Mr. Danve was previously a two-time MLA.

Vishnu Deo Sai: Mines, Steel & Labour and Employment

As BJP’s State unit president, Mr. Sai was instrumental in the party’s phenomenal performance in Chhattisgarh where the BJP bagged 10 of the 11 Lok Sabha seats. Under his leadership in the State, the party had secured as many seats in 2009. He contested the State Assembly elections for the first time in 1990 and went on to become an MP in 1999. He continues to hold the seat.

Sudarshan Bhagat: Social Justice and Empowerment

Sudarshan Bhagat represents Lohardaga parliamentary constituency of Jharkhand. He was first elected as member of the State Legislative Assembly in 2000. He held various portfolios between 2000 and 2005. Mr. Bhagat was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha and served as a member in standing committees on Labour and the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Nihalchand: Chemicals and Fertilizers

He won the Ganganagar Lok Sabha seat of Rajasthan by defeating Congress candidate Master Bhanwar Lal Meghwal.

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