As Narendra Modi took oath as prime minister for a third consecutive term on Sunday, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Prataprao Jadhav, Ramdas Athawale, Raksha Khadse and Murlidhar Mohol from Maharashtra were inducted into the cabinet, with Gadkari and Goyal getting cabinet ranks.
While Shiv Sena’s Prataprao Jadhav is minister of state with independent charge, the other three were sworn-in as ministers of state.
Raksha KhadseThe daughter-in-law of former BJP leader Eknath Khadse, 37-year-old Raksha Khadse said she wanted to thank the people who elected her for a third consecutive time from Raver of North Maharashtra.
In the subsequent Lok Sabha polls in 1999 and 2004, he won the Pandharpur seat in western Maharashtra.
Murlidhar MoholElected for the first time from Pune Lok Sabha seat, Murlidhar Mohol, 49, defeated Ravindra Dhangekar of the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
As Narendra Modi took oath as prime minister for a third consecutive term on Sunday, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Prataprao Jadhav, Ramdas Athawale, Raksha Khadse and Murlidhar Mohol from Maharashtra were inducted into the cabinet, with Gadkari and Goyal getting cabinet ranks. While Shiv Sena’s Prataprao Jadhav is minister of state with independent charge, the other three were sworn-in as ministers of state.
Nitin Gadkari
Elected from Nagpur of Vidarbha region, Gadkari, 67, has served in the Modi government for 10 years as a minister holding the important portfolio of road transport and highways. He has also held additional portfolios like shipping, micro, small and medium enterprises and water resources.
Having started his political career with the RSS’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Gadkari, a Brahmin, had an ability to make friends outside the Sangh Parivar. He comes across as a moderate face of the BJP/RSS and has served as the BJP national president from 2009 to 2013.
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When the Shiv Sena-BJP government came to power for the first time in 1995, Gadkari became public works minister. His flagship Mumbai-Pune Expressway project gave him a new identity as a leader with a vision for infrastructure-oriented development. He was leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council from 1999 to 2005 and led the party’s state unit from 2005 to 2009.
Popularly called “highways man”, Gadkari often quotes former American president John F Kennedy, who said, “American roads are good not because America is rich. America is rich because of its good roads.”
Piyush Goyal
BJP leader Piyush Goyal, 59, from the Konkan region, was minister of commerce and industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution and textiles in the second term of the Modi government.
Before contesting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time from the Mumbai North seat, Goyal, a member of the Vaishya business community, was a member of the Rajya Sabha and the Leader of House in the Upper House.
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Earlier, he was minister of railways and coal (2017-19) and also held additional charge of the minister of finance and corporate affairs twice, in 2018 and 2019. He was minister of state for power, coal, new and renewable energy (2014-2017) and mines (2016-17).
During his 35-year political career, Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in the BJP and is in its national executive.
Goyal was a second rank holder in the chartered accountancy examinations and second rank holder in law in Mumbai University. A well-known investment banker, he has also advised corporates on management strategy and growth. He also served on the boards of the State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. He was nominated to the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers in 2002.
His late father Vedprakash Goyal was the Union minister of shipping and also the national treasurer of the BJP for over two decades. His mother Chandrakanta Goyal was elected thrice to the Maharashtra Assembly from Mumbai.
Raksha Khadse
The daughter-in-law of former BJP leader Eknath Khadse, 37-year-old Raksha Khadse said she wanted to thank the people who elected her for a third consecutive time from Raver of North Maharashtra. “I also want to thank my party, our alliance partners — RSS and Bajrang Dal — who worked tirelessly for me… I will take up whatever responsibility the PM gives me,” she said.
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“I have no words to express my sentiments. Throughout my political journey, party leaders and people have stood by me,” said Raksha, who is from Leva Patil (OBC) community.
After starting as a village sarpanch and zilla parishad member, Raksha became an MP for the first time in 2014 at the age of 26, when she was a young widow. For long, she remained in the background, working silently and striking a balance between her work as an MP and her responsibilities as the mother of two school-going children.
Eknath Khadse left the BJP to join the undivided NCP in 2020. After the split in NCP, he remained with the Sharad Pawar faction but ahead of the 2024 polls, he expressed his desire to rejoin the saffron party.
Prataprao Jadhav
From the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Prataprao Jadhav, 64, was elected for the fourth time from Buldhana in Vidarbha region. Belonging to the Maratha community, Jadhav said, “I thank the CM (Eknath Shinde) for nominating me… We had suggested to Shindeji that the Sena should nominate Shrikant Shindeji for a ministerial position, but Shrikantji refused citing that he wished to work for the organisation. CM Shinde said that a common Shiv Sainik should get an opportunity and justice.”
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A former three-term MLA, he was a minister in the first Shiv Sena-BJP government in 1995-1999. He is the Sena’s most senior MP and was the Eknath Shinde-led party’s first preference for a berth in the Union cabinet.
Ramdas Athawale
The president of Republican Party of India (A) and a member of Rajya Sabha, Ramdas Athawale, 64, who like Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal was a minister in the last two Modi governments, were among the ministers of state who were sworn-in on Sunday.
In the first two Modi governments, the Dalit leader from Konkan region was the Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment. Athawale was a Member of the Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996 and served as a minister from 1990 to 1995 during the Congress government.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Mumbai North Central in 1998. In the subsequent Lok Sabha polls in 1999 and 2004, he won the Pandharpur seat in western Maharashtra. In 2009, he lost from the Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency and blamed the Congress for his defeat. It also saw his RPI (A) leaving the Congress-NCP alliance. In 2011, the Ambedkarite party joined hands with the undivided Shiv Sena and successfully contested the BMC polls together.
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In 2014, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Athawale switched sides again, to ally with the BJP, and he was rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat. In 2016, he was inducted into the Modi cabinet.
Murlidhar Mohol
Elected for the first time from Pune Lok Sabha seat, Murlidhar Mohol, 49, defeated Ravindra Dhangekar of the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha elections. He is the third from Pune, after Suresh Kalmadi and Prakash Javadekar, making it to the Union cabinet. He is also the second Lok Sabha MP from Pune, after Kalmadi of Congress, to become a Union minister in nearly 30 years.
Mohol is a former mayor of Pune and a former standing committee chairperson of the civic body.“The party picked Mohol may be because he is a Maratha face who would be much required during the ensuing Assembly elections. Besides, he has kept the party’s momentum going in the past five years and played a key role in pushing for the city’s development,” said BJP spokesperson Sandeep Khardekar.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Mohol said, “I had come to Delhi for the swearing-in ceremony of the prime minister… But today I suddenly got calls from BJP chief Naddaji and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who told me to come to the PM’s house… I had never in my dream thought that I would come this far in my political journey. I will take up whatever responsibility the PM gives me.”
