New Delhi: Five former Chief Ministers of different states were sworn in as Union Ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Union Cabinet on Sunday. The five former CMs who made their way into Modi's 3.O cabinet includes JD (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy, four-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Hindustan Aawam Morcha (HAM) leader and former CM of Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi, two-time Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and former chief minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal.
Chouhan became the Union cabinet minister for the first time in his more than three-decade-long political career. He was the CM of Madhya Pradesh from 2020 to 2023 and previously from 2005 to 2018. He is the longest-serving Chief Minister of the state. Kumaraswamy was one of the two JD(S) candidates who won the Lok Sabha elections. Kumaraswamy won the Mandya constituency.
HD Kumaraswamy is also a two-time Chief Minister of Karnataka. He served as the Karnataka CM from 2006-7 and then from 2018-19. He is currently serving as the president of JD(S). The Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Manjhi was Bihar's chief minister between 2014-2015. The Dalit leader was the first chief minister from the state's Musahar community. An MLA since 1980, Manjhi was elected the Lok Sabha MP from Bihar's Gaya.