The Aryavarth Express
Agency (New Delhi): Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have garnered the most representation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new council of ministers, with Maharashtra also securing a significant presence ahead of assembly polls.
Uttar Pradesh, the state with the highest number of Lok Sabha members (80), has nine ministerial berths, including one Cabinet position. Bihar has obtained four Cabinet berths out of a total of eight ministers from the state. Maharashtra has six ministerial positions, including two Cabinet ministers.
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan each have five members in the council of ministers sworn in on Sunday. Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu have three ministerial berths each. Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand, Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal, and Kerala have two ministerial berths each.
From Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh is the sole Cabinet minister. Gujarat’s four Cabinet ministers include Prime Minister Modi, Amit Shah, Mansukh Mandaviya, and C R Paatil. Bihar’s four Cabinet ministers are former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi from HAM(S), Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ from JD(U), Giriraj Singh from BJP, and Chirag Paswan from LJP (RV).
Madhya Pradesh has three Cabinet berths: former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Virendra Kumar, and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Maharashtra’s Cabinet representation includes Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal. Tamil Nadu’s prominent Cabinet ministers are Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, with L Murugan serving as Minister of State.
Rajasthan has three Cabinet berths: Ashwini Vaishnaw, Bhupender Yadav, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, along with Arjun Ram Meghwal as Minister of State (Independent Charge). Vaishnaw, originally from Rajasthan, is a Rajya Sabha member from Odisha. Odisha is represented in the Cabinet by Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram.
Karnataka’s Cabinet ministers are former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and Pralhad Joshi. BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda, former chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Annpurna Devi, and Kiren Rijiju are Cabinet ministers from Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, and Arunachal Pradesh, respectively.
Haryana’s Manohar Lal Khattar, Andhra Pradesh’s K Ram Mohan Naidu, Telangana’s G Kishan Reddy, and Punjab’s Hardeep Singh Puri are also in the Cabinet. Puri is a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh.
Ministers of State (Independent Charge) include RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary from Uttar Pradesh, Shiv Sena leader Prataprao Jadhav from Maharashtra, Rao Inderjit Singh from Haryana, Arjun Ram Meghwal from Rajasthan, and Jitendra Singh from Jammu and Kashmir.
Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, who won the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat, and senior BJP leader from Kerala George Kurian have been appointed Ministers of State. Some council members represent states other than their domicile.
