The Aryavarth Express
Agency (New Delhi): With the third Modi government taking shape on Sunday, 33 first-timers will grace its ranks, and at least six of them hail from well-known political families. These newcomers bring a mix of experience and fresh perspectives to the administration.
Among those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s council of ministers for the first time are three former chief ministers: Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), and HD Kumaraswamy (Karnataka). Chouhan, a five-time MP from Vidisha, is the longest-serving chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, while Khattar, a former RSS pracharak, served as Haryana’s chief minister twice before resigning in March after the JJP withdrew its support.
Seven first-time ministers in the Modi government belong to allies: TDP’s K Rammohan Naidu and Chandrasekhar Pemmasani; JDU’s Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary, LJP’s Chirag Paswan, and HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S).
Jayant Chaudhary, the 45-year-old national chairman of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), is the grandson of Chaudhary Charan Singh, India’s fifth Prime Minister, and the son of former Union minister Chaudhary Ajit Singh. He joined the NDA ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after the BJP posthumously honored his grandfather with the Bharat Ratna.
Chirag Paswan, son of the late Ram Vilas Paswan, is set to make his debut as a minister in the central government. He won the Hajipur seat, previously held by his father, by a margin of 1.7 lakh votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Ram Nath Thakur, from the Janata Dal (United), is the son of Karpoori Thakur, a renowned socialist leader and former Chief Minister of Bihar who was awarded the Bharat Ratna earlier this year.
Ravneet Singh Bittu, the grandson of Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated by a Khalistani militant organization in 1995, is a new entrant to the Modi ministry. Bittu switched from the Congress to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections but lost to Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
Raksha Khadse, the daughter-in-law of senior NCP leader Eknath Khadse, was sworn in as Union minister. She retained her Raver seat, winning it for the third time. Jitin Prasada will return to the Union Council of Ministers after 10 years, having joined the BJP in 2021.
Rajiv Ranjan, also known as Lalan Singh, represents the Munger Lok Sabha seat in Bihar and is a trusted friend of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The first-timers from the BJP include Kamlesh Paswan (Uttar Pradesh), Sukanta Majumder (West Bengal), Durga Das Uikey (Madhya Pradesh), Raj Bhushan Chaudhary (Bihar), Satish Dubey (Bihar), Sanjay Seth (Jharkhand), C R Paatil (Gujarat), Bhagirath Chaudhary (Rajasthan), Harsh Malhotra (Delhi), V Somanna (Karnataka), Savitri Thakur (MP), Prataprao Jadhav (Maharashtra), George Kurian (Kerala), Kirti Vardhan Singh (UP), Tokhan Sahu (Chhattisgarh), Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma (Andhra Pradesh), Nimuben Bambhniya (Gujarat), Murlidhar Mohol (Maharashtra), Pabitra Margherita (Assam), and Bandi Sanjay Kumar (Telangana).