Brief profiles of ministers

Brief profiles of ministers

Press Trust of India / New Delhi May 28, 2009, 13:28 IST

Praful Patel (51) has been credited with changing the Indian aviation sector by opening up the skies and making air travel popular. Patel's five-year tenure saw low-cost carriers attracting high-end train travelers. Stiff competition among the airlines also led to lowering of air fares. He won the Gondia-Bhandara Lok Sabha seat, his fourth electoral win, defeating his nearest rival by over two lakh votes. Patel was instrumental in the government decision of buying aircraft for the Indian Airlines and Air India soon after he took over the ministry in 2004.

Salman Khursheed (56), the grandson of former President Zakir Hussain, makes a come back to the council of ministers after a gap of 13 years. Khursheed, who won from Farrukhabad in UP, will be a Minister of State in the Manmohan Singh-led government. He had an impressive innings as a Minister of State for External Affairs from 1991 to 1996 in the P V Narsimha Rao government. Khursheed also served as Officer on Special Duty in the Prime Minister's Office during the tenure of Indira Gandhi.

As Minister of State in PMO, Prithviraj Chavan (63) was one of the closest aides of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The US-educated Chavan, who was elected to the Upper House for a second term last year, has held several positions in the party including general secretary incharge of states like Jammu and Kashmir.

As Minister of State for Home in the previous UPA Government, Sri Prakash Jaiswal (64) was the spokesperson of the government on internal affairs. He is a three-time MP from Kanpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh.

Dinsha Patel (72), who won the general elections from Kheda in Gujarat, has been elevated as MoS with independent charge after being MoS in the Petroleum ministry in the UPA government. A senior leader of the Congress, Patel had unsuccessfully contested the Gujarat Assembly elections against Chief Minister Narendra Modi last year.

Jairam Ramesh (55), who was Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and Power in the previous UPA government, has been promoted and given independent charge. His elevation in the government is seen as a reward for charting the successful Congress strategy for the recent general elections. Born in Chickmaglur in Karnataka on April 9, 1954 he represents Andhra Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha.

Krishna Tirath, 54, a two-time MP from Delhi, makes her debut in the Manmohan Singh ministry. Tirath began her political career as a member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly from 1984-2004 and held the portfolios of Social Welfare, and Labour and Employment. She won the recent elections from Delhi North-West. Tirath represented Karol Bagh in the previous Lok Sabha.

Dinesh Trivedi, considered a close confidante of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, was elected from Barrackpore in West Bengal on a Trinamool Congress ticket. A Gujarati, he is settled in West Bengal.

Sisir Adhikari, who won the Lok Sabha election from Contai on a TMC ticket, is making his maiden entry into the Union Council of Ministers.

Saugata Ray of TMC defeated BJP's Tapan Sikdar and sitting MP Amitava Nandi to wrest the Dum Dum seat from the CPI-M in a tripartite battle.

Mohan Jatua, a former IPS officer, won from Mathurapur constituency on a TMC ticket.

Sultan Ahmed, President of Kolkata's Mohammadan Football Club and TMC MP from Uluberia, is one of six Ministers of State from his party.

Prateek Patil hails from a family of politicians. His grandfather Vasantdada Patil was the chief minister of Maharashtra. He is a second time MP from Sangli parliamentary constituency. He makes his debut as a minister at the Center.

Arun Yadav represents Khandwa seat in Madhya Pradesh. His father Subhash Yadav was deputy chief minister of the state when Digvijay Singh was the chief minister. He got elected to the Parliament in 2007 from Khargone seat in a bye-election. He had to contest from Khandwa as Khargone became a reserved seat after the delimitation exercise.

Bharatsinh Solanki is a second time MP from Anand in Gujarat. His father Madhav Sinh Solanki was former Gujarat Chief Minister. Solanki was Pradesh Congress Committee president in 2007 when the party lost the assembly polls.

Tushar Choudhary won from Bardoli in Gujarat. He was MLA prior to his becoming MP. This is his second term as an MP.

Ajay Maken (45) has been known to make a difference whichever post he handles — be it privatization of the Delhi Vidyut Board, running public transport on CNG or modernization of the Delhi Assembly. He won the New Delhi Parliamentary seat humbling BJP stalwart Jagmohan and was made the Minister of State for Urban Development. The nephew of Congress leader Lalit Maken, Ajay's career surged after becoming the President of Delhi University Students Union in 1985.

R P N Singh hails from the royal family of Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. He was an MLA from the same seat till recently. He defeated BSP stalwart Swami Prasad Maurya who is the state unit president of his party.

Pradeep Jain was an MLA from Jhansi earlier. He wrested the Lok Sabha seat from the Samajwadi Party. He was associated with youth Congress.

Daggubati Purandeswari (50), the daughter of legendary Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N T Rama Rao, won the recent general election from Visakhapatnam. Purandeswari made her mark as a Minister of State for HRD in the previous UPA government.

Panabaka Lakshmi (51), who won the Bapatla seat in Andhra Pradesh, gets back as MoS. She was MoS Health in the previous government.

Namo Narain Meena (65), a former Additional Director General of Police, took the political plunge in 2004 general elections which he won from Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. He was MoS Environment and Forests in the previous government.

Jitin Prasada (35), who is seen as one of the upcoming young leaders of the Congress, has a prominent political lineage to boast of. The son of Congress veteran Jitendra Prasada, Jitin first made his electoral debut from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh in 2004 and was made Minister of State for Steel. He won from Dhaurahra in the Lok Sabha elections.

A three-time MP from Kakinada, M M Pallam Raju (48) makes a comeback in the Union Council of Ministers. Raju, an MBA from Temple University Philadelphia, US, was the Minister of State for Defense in the previous UPA government. His grandfather M Pallam Raju was a freedom fighter and father M S Sanjeevi Rao was a minister in the Indira Gandhi government between 1982-84.

Mullapally Ramachandran won from Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala defeating sitting MP Satheedevi of the CPI(M). Ramachandran was a minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government. He is the vice president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.

Born in Shimla, 64-year-old Preneet Kaur has a distinction of scoring a hattrick as she bagged Patiala constituency for the third successive time. The wife of former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, she was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time in 1999 and then in 2004. Known as the Maharani of Patiala, Kaur is the daughter of former Punjab Chief Minister Gyan Singh Kahlon.

An engineer by profession, Vincent Pala entered politics only this year. He won from Shillong seat in Meghalaya.

At 28, Agatha Sangma is the youngest minister in the Manmohan Singh ministry. Agatha of NCP is a lawyer by profession. She first entered the previous Lok Sabha through a byelection and was reelected this time from Tura in Meghalaya. Agatha is the daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma.

A member of the Gwalior royal family, the 38-year-old Jyotiraditya Scindia first entered the Lok Sabha in 2002 from Guna which was represented by his father Madhvrao Scindia till his death. The junior Scindia was re-elected in 2004 and was made Minister of State for Information Technology in 2007. He has retained the seat. An MBA from Stanford University, the Guna MP worked as an investment banker for Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley before he joined politics.

Born on October 5, 1954, Gurudas Kamat is a six time MP from Mumbai-North East. Kamat, an influential Congress leader from Maharashtra, has an MBA degree and is a commerce graduate.

A Sai Prathap, 65, is a six time MP from Andhra Pradesh. An agriculturist, Prathap was member of a number of Lok Sabha committees.

Sachin Pilot is 32-year-old MP from Ajmer. He is the Gujjar face of the Congress. Son of former union minister Rajesh Pilot, he had to contest from Ajmer as his Dausa seat was reserved. He is married to Farooq Abdullah's daughter. Pilot is one of the young leaders of the party who is close to general secretary Rahul Gandhi. This former Stephanian has a pilot license. He defeated Kiran Maheshwari of BJP in the polls.

S S Palanimanickam won from Thanjavur on a DMK candidate for the fifth consecutive time. He defeated his nearest rival Durai Balakrishnan of MDMK by 101,789 votes. He has served as Minister of State for Finance earlier.

D Napolean, an actor in the Tamil film industry, won on a DMK ticket from Perambalur by more than 77,000 votes.

Srikant Jena, 59, Congress MP from Balasore constituency of Orissa, was union minister in the United Front government as a member of the Janata Dal. He has been MP thrice since 1989 to 1998. Jena was jailed twice during the national emergency.

K H Muniyappa, a six-time MP from Karnataka, was minister of state for surface transport in the previous government. The Kolar MP was first elected in 1991 and has not looked back since winning every election thereafter.

Mahadeo Singh Khandela won from Sikar defeating CPI(M) candidate Amra Ram and sitting BJP MP Subhash Maharia.

Harish Rawat, who won the Haridwar seat, will be a MoS for the first time. The former Uttarakhand Congress chief has served as an MP earlier.

Prof K V Thomas won by a majority of 11,700 votes from the Ernakulam constituency on a Congress ticket. A Chemistry professor, he was a sitting MLA representing the Ernakulam assembly seat. Earlier, he was a minister in the Kerala government.

53-year-old Shashi Tharoor, who failed in his bid to become UN chief three years back, proved his popularity at the hustings in his hometown of Thiruvananthpuram where he won on a Congress ticket with a huge margin. In his 22-year career at the United Nations he served as Undersecretary General for Communications and Public Information under Kofi Annan.

E Ahamed (71) was Minister for State for External Affairs in the previous UPA government. A six-time MP, Ahamed won from the newly constituted Malappuram on a Indian Union Muslim League ticket. Ahamed was a Member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly for five consecutive terms from 1967 to 1991 and held the Industry portfolio between 1982 and 1987.

V Narayansamy, 61, who was Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the previous ministry, is a close confidant of Rahul Gandhi. A Lok Sabha MP from Pudducherry, he is a lawyer by profession. He was first elected to Rajya Sabha in 1985 and then in 1991. He was entrusted with the responsibility of reviving the Congress in Chhattisgarh but failed to achieve much. His USP is his abiding loyalty to the Gandhi family.

MGR loyalist-turned Karunanidhi confidant S Jagathrakshakan runs a string of medical and engineering colleges and is the chancellor of the private Bharat University near Chennai. He has won the Lok Sabha elections for the third time. He had merged his Jananayaka Munnetra Kazhagam, which he floated in 2000, with the DMK on the eve of Lok Sabha elections.

A Stalin loyalist, S Gandhiselvan, 46, sprang a surprise by winning the newly created Namakkal seat, considered to be a bastion of AIADMK.

A trusted follower of Mamata Banerjee, Mukul Roy has been a Rajya Sabha member since 2006 and the general secretary of TMC for the last two years. Roy, 55, known as a political and social worker, has been a member of the Committee on Urban Development and Member, Consultative committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs since April 2008.