KNOW THE NEW MEMBERS IN THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

A METALLURGICAL engineer from IndianInstitute of Technology, Parrikar was chiefminister of Goa and stands out for anunpretentious style. He was the architect ofan entity forged with Christians ahead ofthe 2012 Assembly elections after herealised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)would never have a chance of forming agovernment in Goa unless it reached out tothe minority community. At the same time,when the leader of the Sri Ram Sene,Pramod Muthalik, tried to expand hisactivities from Mangaluru to Goa, Parrikarcame down hard on him and virtuallyoutlawed him from the state, despite thefact that Muthalik had by then joined BJP.Muthalik is now banned from entering Goa.

He is frank and criticised the decision toban iron ore mining in Goa, later laudingthe Supreme Court for lifting it. Goa’sbusiness community was forthright inwelcoming his appointment as chiefminister and hailing him as a man whounderstands business andentrepreneurship. He is known for integrityand simplicity in his personal style.

The BJP government in Goa currently has21 MLAs out of 40 and with allies, has 26.

STRONG POINTS!His educational background makes himone of the more cerebral members of theCabinet

!He understands the practical problemsof mining, pricing and allocation ofnatural resources

!He understands problems of business asand can come up with creative solutions

SURESH PRABHU has straddled so manydifferent worlds and reconciled these soeasily that it’s easy to forget he enteredpolitics as a Shiv Sena man. A charteredaccountant and lawyer by training, he roseto become a parliamentarian fromMaharashtra. A politician of many words,he shone as minister under the Vajpayeegovernment, handling portfolios as diverseas environment and power.

At a time when the environment wasn’tas hotly debated as now, he made a mark atthe ministry even as he chaired thecommittee on inter-linking of rivers, givinglife to a rather controversial mega-project.He did even better at the power ministry,spearheading the reforms of electricity andpower laws.

Even at the cost of an extended snub tohis parent party, Shiv Sena, he is ready forhis next role.

STRONG POINTS !Made a mark as a minister during the Vajpayee regime in variouscapacities

!Became the first politician who came from the right wing, to speak about sustainable development and became a darling of overseas greenNGOs and businesses and governmentsalike

!A chartered accountant and lawyer, he isnow seen as more of a BJP man thanMarathi manoos

JAGAT PRAKASH Nadda was expected tobecome the chief of BJP, had Amit Shah notpipped him at the post. He is fromHimachal Pradesh and began his politicallife with the Akhil Bharatiya VidyarthiParishad (ABVP), joining the JayaparakashNarayan movement in 1975. He becamesecretary of its Patna University unit in 1977.He held various key positions in ABVP till1990.

Having been in jail for 45 days due to hiscampaign for upgrading schools in 1987,Nadda organised a Rashtriya SangharshMorcha against the ruling Congress. He was appointed the election in-charge ofBJP’s youth wing during the 1989 Lok Sabhapolls.

At 31, Nadda became president of theBharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in 1991. Hehas served in various BJP governments

in Himachal Pradesh and been an MLA inthe state thrice.

Between 1998 and 2003 and 2008 to 2010,Nadda served as a minister in the stategovernment. In the previous BJPgovernment (2007-2012) in the state, Naddawas forced to resign as forest minister in 2010owing to differences with then chief ministerPrem Kumar Dhumal. He is a Rajya SabhaMP from Himachal Pradesh since May 2012.

STRONG POINTS!Knows the organisation intimately andwhile he has never been a centralminister, understands the workings ofadministration in a state

! Is undogmatic, ready to listen and ispractical

!Has a low-key, unintrusive style offunctioning

THE ABSENCE of a Jat leader in thecouncil of ministers, despite the fact thatJats in Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthanand Haryana backed BJP substantially,turning their backs on traditional leaderssuch as Ajit Singh is one reason for SanwarLal Jat’s inclusion in the government. Jatdefeated Sachin Pilot in Ajmer by a marginof 175,000 votes.

He is considered close to Chief MinisterVasundhara Raje and, although he waswater resources minister in hergovernment when the Lok Sabha electionswere held, she asked him to quit hisposition as an MLA and contest the LokSabha elections, assuring him he would beelevated to a Central minister. That did nothappen in Narendra Modi’s first round ofexpansion of council of ministers. He hasbeen a minister thrice in the stategovernment.

STRONG POINTS! Is a Jat, a caste which has backed BJPwell

! Is not a novice, having had experience as a minister in the stategovernment

!Could be used, if one is needed, as a bridge between Modi and Raje, as he is highly regarded by her

TELANGANA WILL now have representa-tion at the Centre with Bandaru Dattatreya,the lone BJP MP to be elected from the state,being inducted into Narendra Modi’sministry. The 67-year-old politician had beena pracharakof the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS) before joining BJP.

He was elected as a member ofParliament for the first time in 1991 andtwice, thereafter, in 1998 and 1999 from theSecunderabad Lok Sabha constituency. Hewas re-elected to the Lok Sabha from thesame constituency in 2014. He had servedas a Union minister of state from 1999-2004in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Dattatreya had been the face of BJP inAndhra Pradesh for a long time. He hadbeen the party's state secretary in 1980 andits president from 1996 to 1998. He iscurrently BJP's national vice-president andis known for organisational skills.

STRONG POINTS !Only BJP candidate to be elected fromTelangana

!A grassroots leader, was a known face ofBJP in undivided Andhra Pradesh

!He has previous experience as a ministerin the Union ministry. He was a minister of state in the Vajpayeegovernment

YALAMANCHILI SATYANARAYANAChowdary is an industrialist-turned-politician who has been close to TeluguDesam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu,for a long time. He, along with

another industrialist CM Ramesh andeducationist Narayana, had been veryactive during the 2014 elections. He waselected to the Rajya Sabha in 2010. Beingchairman of $2-billion Sujana group, he ispopularly known as Sujana Chowdary.

Born on June 2, 1961, Chowdary is apost-graduate in engineering. The 53-year-old politician started the Sujana group witha single appliances manufacturing unit andtransformed it into a diversified group withinterests in steel, telecom, powerinfrastructure, energy, urbaninfrastructure, precision engineering,household appliances and education.

The Hyderabad-based group has threelisted companies — Sujana Towers , SujanaMetal Products and Sujana UniversalIndustries .

STRONG POINTS !Close to Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu

!Chairman of $2-billion Sujana group

! Is associated with NT Rama Rao Trust,TDP's social service arm

BIRENDER SINGH had always fanciedhimself as chief minister of Haryana.However, his dreams never came tofruition. Despite joining BJP at an electionrally in Jind, the Congress rebel and Jatleader could only bag a ticket for wife PremLata in the recent Assembly polls, much tothe dismay of followers at Banger in Jind.With a non-Jat in the chief minister’schair, BJP is conscious of not alienatingthe Jats any further.

Singh had ended his four-decadeassociation with the Congress after hischarges against then chief ministerBhupinder Singh Hooda went unheeded bythe party high command. The grandson ofJat leader Sir Chottu Ram had accusedHooda of bias towards his ownconstituency and neglect of other Jatstrongholds. He was suspended for anti-party activities following his adverse remarks against party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and forhobnobbing with BJP.

A four-time MLA from Uchana, a seatwhich he lost to O P Chautala in the 2009polls, Singh’s long political career includesseveral stints as a cabinet minister inHaryana. Singh’s elevation to the UnionCabinet can be attributed to his strong massbase among the Jats and the large presenceof the community in north India, includingelection-bound Delhi.

STRONG POINTS ! Took on former Haryana chief ministerand Jat strongman Bhupinder SinghHooda

! Joined BJP in August 2014 in the presenceof party President Amit Shah, ending his42-year-old association with theCongress

!Prominent Jat leader and grandson ofpeasant leader Sir Chottu Ram

HINDI MUSIC lovers might not have heardmuch from Bollywood singer Babul Supriyoafter his Kaho Na Pyaar Hai hit numbers,but he has now emerged as the most-heardBJP voice on news channels in West Bengal.

From being an outsider to becoming oneof the most prominent faces of a risingpolitical force in the state, Supriyo has comea long way. If seating next to yoga guruRamdev last February earned him a BJPticket in the Lok Sabha polls from Asansol,party cadres say the kind of effort he hadput in during election campaigns wasunlike a usual celebrity candidate.

The 44-year-old singer earned PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s praise for hisfighting spirit. Supriyo had quit hisStandard Chartered Bank job in his 30s tobecome a professional singer.

But will Supriyo, often clad in jeans andT-shirt, riding his Royal Enfield, change hisboy-next-door image after he joins Modi’scouncil of ministers? Only time will tell.

STRONG POINTS !A celebrity singer who sang many hitsongs in Bollywood movies

!Prime Minister Modi had called him a“fighter”, looking at his hard work

!Good communicator and accessible tothe public

JAYANT SINHA, 51, has been a loner in thenational capital, especially after he was denieda position in Narendra Modi’s council ofministers on May 26.Given his academicbackground, Sinha was hopeful of getting aministerial post after he won his maidenLok Sabha election from the Hazaribaghparliamentary seat in Jharkhand.

Though Sinha might be a newcomer toParliament, he has learnt the tricks of thetrade from father Yashwant Sinha, aseasoned politician who was financeminister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayeegovernment. Sinha senior had representedthe Hazaribagh seat many a times in thepast. Jayant had studied at IIT, Delhi, andHarvard University. IIT proved to be aturning point in his life. He worked fornearly 20 years in Boston and Philadelphia.Currently, he is a member of two importantparliamentary committees — the PublicAccounts Committee and the StandingCommittee on Finance.

His selection as a minister cancertainly fill the void of talent in thepresent council of ministers.

STRONG POINTS !Son of former finance minister YashwantSinha

!Studied at IIT, Delhi, and Harvard University

!A sought face on television channels for comments on policy-related matters

TILL THE 2014 Lok Sabha elections,Rajyavardhan Rathore was more known asan army shooter who won India its firstindividual Olympic silver medal.

But soon after the election results, heearned the reputation of a giant slayer bydefeating veteran Congress leader C P Joshiwith a record margin of over 300,000 votes.

Rathore, 44, represents the Jaipur(Rural) constituency in the Lok Sabha and isalso a member of the standing committeeon defence.

It is widely believed that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi maintains a distance fromRajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.Rathore’s selection could be like killing twobirds with one stone.

His military background training will behandy while discharging his new duties.Rathore retired as a colonel in 2013.

STRONG POINTS!Won India its first individual Olympicsilver medal and retired as a colonelfrom the army

!Won various medals in double-trapshoot events across the world. He hasbeen awarded the Khel Ratna.

!Defeated Congress veteran C P Joshi by a record margin of over 300,000votes. Doesn’t belong to any camps in BJP

ELECTED TO the Lok Sabha twice fromRampur in Uttar Pradesh, Mukhtar AbbasNaqvi was last caught in a controversy hehimself sparked.

The issue was the induction of Sabir Ali,an important Muslim leader from Bihar,who courted controversy by challenging hiserstwhile party, the Janata Dal (United) bypraising Narendra Modi’s leadershipqualities in the middle of the Lok Sabhaelections.

The praise had the desired result. JD(U)expelled Ali and within 24 hours, BJPinvited him to join.

When Ali was about to join BJP, Naqvitweeted he was shocked at the decision ofhis party to recruit a man who has been anassociate of Yaseen Bhatkal, one of thekingpins of the Indian Mujahideen namedin a number of cases of bombings all overIndia.

Ali was aghast by this charge and went

public saying he had no connection withBhatkal, adding he would “hang” himself ifNaqvi proved his charge. However, BJPscurried for cover and although a lot ofeffort, especially by party leader ArunJaitley, had been expended in getting Ali to come over to BJP, it was dashed tonothing.

STRONG POINTS!Has won twice from Rampur in UP,which has 50 per cent Muslimpopulation

! Is a regular spokesperson for the BJP and is known for hisarticulation

!Has been selected for elevation though he is a Shia, not a Sunni like Syed Shahnawaz Hussain

FOR BJP’S fourth-term MP fromChandrapur in Maharashtra, HansrajGangaram Ahir, elevation to the Unionministry is a birthday gift. He turns 59 onNovember 11.

Ahir came into the limelight due to hisexposé of the alleged multi-crore coalmining scam. He pursued the caserelentlessly, first with the parliamentarycommittee on coal and steel, and laterwith the Central Vigilance Commission.This led to the Central Bureau ofInvestigation probe and the cancellationof 214 coal blocks by the Supreme Court.In his reaction after the apex court order,Ahir said his stand was vindicated as allallocations were illegal.

Ahir claims environment protection is his passion. He wasappointed as the chairman ofparliamentary standing committee oncoal and steel in the 16th Lok Sabha.

STRONG POINTS!First elected to Lok Sabha in 1996

!During the 14th Lok Sabha he got into thelimelight after his exposure against coalscam

!Was credited as "role-model" for MPs for his parliamentary work

HE LOVES litti-chokha and ensures hisguests get a taste of this typical Biharidelicacy.

His association with RSS, theprogenitor of BJP, goes back to hischildhood.

Singh belongs to the powerfulBhumihar caste and was a minister in theJanata Dal-BJP coalition governmentcabinet for eight years. Even as a minister,he never missed a chance to criticise then Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

At the height of the Nitish-(Narendra)Modi proxy war, Singh chose to side withthe latter. This, perhaps, earned him a ministerial berth in the council ofministers on Sunday.

Loyalty to the leader aside, Giriraj isknown for a series of controversialstatements. His alleged exhortation tovoters during Lok Sabha campaign thatthey should either vote for Modi-led BJPor go to Pakistan invited a lot of criticism.BJP had to maintain a distance from hisstatement. At another time, he calledBrahmeshwar “Mukhia”, the murderedchief of private militia Ranvir Sena, a trueGandhian. Ranvir Sena allegedly carriedout a massacre of Dalits in the 1990s.

Experts feel his induction in thecouncil of ministers is an attempt toplease the Bhumihars, who, thoughnumerically not so large, wieldconsiderable influence in Bihar politics.In recent years, the Nawada MP hasemerged as a strong votary of aggressiveHindutva politics.

STRONG POINTS !A known Modi loyalist! Likes to stay in the limelight with controversial statements

!A Bhumihar leader from politically-charged Bihar

MANOHAR PARRIKAR

J P NADDA

SANWAR LALJAT

SURESH PRABHU

RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE

JAYANT SINHA

BABULSUPRIYO

MUKHTAR ABBASNAQVI

HANSRAJ AHIR

GIRIRAJ SINGH

YSCHOWDARY

BIRENDER SINGH

BANDARU DATTATREYA

PM’S NEW TEAM. <

OTHER NEW MEMBERS IN THE COUNCILOF MINISTERS| Rajiv Pratap Rudy

| Mahesh Sharma

| Ram Kripal Yadav

| MohanbhaiKundariya

| Ram Shankar Katheria

| Niranjan Jyoti

| Vijay Sampla

| H P Chaudhary